Solamente en la Noche
by Drako Malfoi
Summary: HarryDraco slash. Seventh Year. Voldemort is gone The Death Eaters are still at large... Hunor, Romance, Angst, Fluff, Quidditch, Confrontation, Dobby and lotsa kisses! R&R!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter One  
  
As I sat alone against the stone wall of the Entrance Hall, I looked up at the first years, thinking how young and innocent they were. I watched them walk out through the heavy oak doors and onto the spacious grounds. Perhaps the circle the lake and talk with each other about random things that didn't really matter in the greater scheme of things? Perhaps to go marvel at the Whomping Willow in all it's violent wonder? Or maybe, just maybe, to go tell the person that they've 'loved since first laying eyes on them' so?  
  
I suppose it doesn't really matter. We all have a chance to be happy, don't we? It's my own fault that I didn't take mine when I had the chance.  
  
I stare and I think, my expression is blank and lifeless. Then I see him, coming out of the Great Hall, walking towards me. Will he say something snide? To hurt me like he always does? I don't think he knows just how deeply his words cut me.  
  
"What's wrong with you, Potter? Hearing your mother's voice again?" He said with an icy laugh.  
  
My green eyes stare up into his blue ones, and then trail over his perfect blonde hair and back over the walls, finally resting on the great marble staircase.  
  
"No... I was just thinking.... What business is that of yours, Draco?" I spat, hoping he would catch that I had called him by his first name.  
  
"Thinking? I didn't know you were capable of such a feat," he replied lightly, his hands brushing his hair back out of his face.  
  
"Just leave me alone," I whispered helplessly.  
  
I stood and pushed past him, deliberately brushing my shoulder against his. I loved the electric feeling it sent through my body, even though his face showed a disgusted stare as I touched him.  
  
"Walking around the lake... Will help." I thought to myself as I walked further away from him, his insults still ringing in my ears.  
  
"Hearing your mother's voice Potter? Oh look, here comes Potty and the Weasel. That's why all the Slytherin's sing.... Weasley is our king...."  
  
"SHUT UP!" I shouted aloud as every horrible thing that he had said to me ran though my mind, hurting me, confusing me.  
  
I never did understand my obsession with the blonde bully. I'm still trying to figure it out. Why do I always lay awake thinking about him? Why can I never get him out of my mind?  
  
I can't sleep and I dream about him.  
  
It's driving me mad. Really. I can't stand it. I need to get him out of my head.  
  
"Harry?" came Hermione's voice, prying into my thoughts and wrenching me back to reality.  
  
I had obviously been a little more out of it than I thought. I was laying face down on the grass, pounding the ground with my fist and screaming loudly.  
  
"Harry?" she said again. I couldn't ignore her any longer.  
  
"Yes, 'Mione?"  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
All right? All right?! Is she crazy? Do I look all right?  
  
"Yes, I'm fine, just... Stressed. With Sirius being gone and Voldemort being back...I've got a lot on my shoulders right now."  
  
I figured that was a pretty adequate reply, but no. Of course not. It never is.  
  
"Oh Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms around my neck and squeezing me tightly.  
  
"'Mione! Get off," I grunted, not being able to do much else as she had me in a sort of headlock.  
  
"Sorry Harry, but I'm worried about you. We all are," she whispered. She had let go of me just in time for me to see a silver tear run down her face.  
  
"We?"  
  
"Yes, we. Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, me!" We!" she said in that tone of urgency that she had mastered and made her own over the years.  
  
"Well, you can tell 'we' that I'm fine," I said, standing up haughtily and taking note of the dark grass stains on my knees.  
  
I left her to stare after me as I crossed the grass, the frost crunching under my feet and leaving shallow prints.  
  
"We're worried about you Harry. We just want what's best for you Harry," I muttered angrily to myself.  
  
All their wanting what's best for me is depriving me of my privacy.  
  
Winter was usually a beautiful time at Hogwarts, but all it meant to me was having to stay inside. Trapped with Malfoy and the others who seemed sent by Merlin to scorn me.  
  
I stare out the window of my dormitory when I can get a moment to myself. The snow would swirl around in white clouds and then fall gracefully to the ground; it left me wondering why I couldn't be like that. Free.  
  
"Harry, what are you doing?"  
  
Ron. Again. Does he never know when to not?  
  
"Ron, what does it look like I'm doing?" I snapped irritably, shaking my head and turning back to the open window.  
  
"It looks like you're wallowing in your own self pity again. Harry, seriously, what's happening to you? You used to be so... Happy," Ron said lamely.  
  
"Happy?" I snorted with contained laughter.  
  
I turned from the window again and crossed the room to face him, my feet thudding softly against the light gold carpeting.  
  
"You expect me to be happy?" I heard the malice in my own voice. It scared me a little, but at that point, I didn't care anymore. "How can I possibly be happy? My godfather, the closest thing that I ever had to a real parent, has been dead for over a year, yes, Voldemort is gone, but the Death Eaters are still around! How in the bloody hell do you expect me to be happy? I don't think you'd exactly be all laughs and giggles if a scare on your forehead was so constantly in pain that you can't sleep, you can't think and at times can't breathe. On top of all that, there is something confusing me that I'd rather not talk about, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find somewhere where I can be alone."  
  
With that I stalked out of the room and down the stairs. When I crossed the common room Hermione asked me to come sit with her, but I ignored her as thought I hadn't heard her.  
  
I just walked on and on, not paying attention to where I was going. Not until I walked slam into Malfoy, anyway.  
  
"Potter, do watch where you're going," he said, brushing himself off dramatically as though he had fallen in the dirt and was ridding himself of the dust.  
  
"Sorry," I muttered, probably blushing, but I couldn't really tell. I was numb to it all.  
  
"Sorry," he snickered, tossing his head in a way that made his blonde hair fall beautifully into his perfectly blue eyes.  
  
I didn't reply. For the first time I was noticing how easy it was to get lost in his eyes. In this light they didn't look that steel gray, but more a gentle watery blue.  
  
"What on earth are you staring at?" His voice brought me back to reality and I blinked a few times.  
  
"What? Nothing, sorry," I muttered again and started to walk away.  
  
Every encounter I had with Draco Malfoy was unpleasant, yes. But strangely enough I always looked forward to seeing him in the hallways. Why? I don't know. I don't understand it. I'm sure it's nothing. No matter. He's my enemy, we should look forward to tormenting each other.  
  
"Ahh, but you don't torment him, do you? It is in fact he who torments you," came that voice in my head that has a way of making me think quite the contrary of what I'd like to be thinking.  
  
Again, I found myself so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't notice where I was until I ran into something. This time it was the wall of the astronomy tower and I had nearly fallen out the window.  
  
I curled up against the wall and stared out the window, the snow still swirling around, pouring into the room and spilling onto the floor when the wind blew it just right.  
  
Hours passed, thoughts passed. Same thoughts as always. Sirius falling through the veil, Bellatrix cackling madly, Voldemort's high-pitched squeal of pure delight when he thought he had had me cornered.  
  
"Ron's right... I shouldn't torture myself" I muttered and stood up, starting back down the stairs to the main corridor. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
"Do you love me, Harry?"  
  
"Yes..." I moaned, leaning in for another kiss that I needed so badly.  
  
The kisses were so intense. So real. It was amazing. I couldn't believe I was living this.  
  
I wasn't.  
  
"Harry, wake up! It's nearly lunch time," Neville said, prodding me in the arm rather painfully with his wand. Looking back on it and considering that it was Neville doing it, I'm rather lucky to still have full possession of my right hand.  
  
I tried to remember the goings on of last night as I grunted a reply to Neville, who seemed satisfied and walked away.  
  
All I remembered was being in the tower, only vaguely remembering returning to my bed well past midnight.  
  
"Argh..." I whispered, looking around for my socks.  
  
Finally I found them, after several moments of blindly rifling through the trunk at the foot of my bed. Yawning, I pulled on my robes and headed for the common room, nearly falling down the stairs several times.  
  
"Hiya Harry!" came Colin Creevey's scratchy voice. It had to be the most annoying thing in the world.  
  
"Merlin save me," I thought to myself before replying, "Hello, Colin."  
  
I glanced around the room, taking in the sight of the stone fireplace that was surrounded by happy little first years...  
  
I shook the thoughts off and headed for the portrait hole, slowly pushing it open and crawling out into the corridor.  
  
_-`~`*`~_`*`_~`*`~`-_  
  
It wasn't until much later that day that my mind drifted back to the dream I had had the night before. For the life of me I could not remember who had been in that dream with me. All I could remember was the way they had held me and kissed me, how soft the voice that whispered in my ear had been. I couldn't remember until –  
  
"Potter, you're blocking the door," that voice whispered, a voice I knew only too well.  
  
"Sorry Malfoy..." I said, shock setting in as I took a step to the left, allowing him to pass through the arched door way.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"What?" I said, my voice considerably more breathy then was normal.  
  
"Why are you staring at Malfoy? Was he talking shi.t again?" Ron said, breaking the wonderful silence that had been surrounding me for a brief moment.  
  
"I was just zoning out and he happened to be standing where I was staring," I lied quickly, a note of exasperation coating my voice.  
  
"Oh, well, you do have to admit, it looked bad. You staring at Malfoy without a trace of hatred on your face. How would that go over?" Ron asked lightly, laughter lighting his face.  
  
I turned and stared blankly at him.  
  
"I don't care. They all think I'm a psycho anyway, so what would it even matter?" Before he could answer I walked away, leaving him with a blank expression on his face.  
  
_-`~`*`~_`*`_~`*`~`-_  
  
Again I found myself walking aimlessly around the castle, not knowing or caring where my feet might take me. The only thing I had to drown out my own forlorn thoughts was the soft thud followed by the deep echo of my feet on the stone floor.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"WHAT?" I screamed, turning around.  
  
Immediately I knew it was a mistake.  
  
"Sorry, I'll go if you're just going to be all pissy," Malfoy said, shrugging and making to turn around.  
  
"Good choice. Go away and let me alone" I said, my temper rising.  
  
I inwardly smirked when I saw a muscle working at his jaw line, a sure sign that his temper was also flaring.  
  
My eyes rolled sarcastically of their own accord and I turned to walk up the steps to the Astronomy Tower  
  
"Potter, do you really think you can ignore me?" he said, trotting up next to me and picking up my pace.  
  
"Yes, actually, I do," I said, stepping a little faster.  
  
After a few moments he made a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a desperate gasp for air.  
  
"Potter, will you slow down, I just want to talk to you!"  
  
I stopped suddenly and stared at him. Draco Malfoy wanted to talk to me.  
  
"Talk, or curse, Draco?"  
  
"Talk. Just talk, Potter – Er, Harry,"  
  
"Harry? Finally got it though that thick layer of hairspray that I have a first name, did you?" I said, a smirk tugging at my lips.  
  
Draco looked for a moment as though he would love to hit me, but he didn't.  
  
"Yes, Harry, I know you've got a first name," Draco said, emphasizing my name in a way that made my stomach jump into my throat.  
  
A smile must have formed on my face because at that moment Draco smiled and looked at me, for the first time since I first met him in Diagon Alley, with a non-hostile look on his face.  
  
"Fine, I'm going up to the Astronomy Tower, I find it makes a nice place to think,"  
  
I said shortly and started walking again.  
  
"... Thinking... And other things," Draco snickered knowingly.  
  
I briefly thought of asking him exactly what he had done in the tower to make him know such things, but thought better of it. It just didn't seem right to me that I should be having that conversation with a hated enemy.  
  
"Oh really?" I responded finally, a little too late for it to have any effect.  
  
We walked in silence until we reached the long, spiraling staircase that lead to the tower, and for the first time I noticed how it was just wide enough for two people to walk closely together...  
  
"After you," I muttered, gesturing for him to go first.  
  
"And let you walk behind me? I think not... But then I'd be letting you go before me...." Draco said, his face showing the internal struggle.  
  
"Walk next to me then, but it's just wide enough for us to be shoulder to shoulder, I didn't figure you'd like that," I said, rolling my eyes again. 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
Draco and I climbed the steps slowly. I felt him flinch each time my shoulder grazed his.  
  
"Malfoy," I whispered, carefully keeping my eyes off him and on the never- ending stone steps in front of me, "what is it that you want?"  
  
"Want? All I want, Potter, is to make certain that you are going to continue to retaliate when I insult you. If you don't, it makes my life boring, unpleasant, and uneventful, you see," Draco said, a sneer darkening his handsome features. For some reason that was unfathomable to me, he looked... Perfect... Sexy, even, in the dim torch light of the cramped stairway.  
  
"Uneventful?" I half asked, half stated, still partially lost in the image of him; the way his shoulders were rising and falling with each breathe and step up the stairs.  
  
"Yes, Potter," he said. Was he glaring, or just glancing at me? It was impossible to tell in this light.  
  
Funny, isn't it, the light that makes him look so beautiful is also that light that makes him impossible to read.  
  
We walked in silence until we reached the tower, saying nothing until he shivered in the cold.  
  
"Cold?" I asked as another convulsion shook his body when a breeze came through the window that was carved into the stone.  
  
"Y-yes," he replied back to me.  
  
He looked like he didn't know whether to shiver and get the attention he needed, or to defiantly keep a straight face.  
  
I sighed and removed my cloak and handed it to him, shivering slightly myself.  
  
"Well, now you're cold," Draco said, his voice was different. Not hard and unfeeling, but actual concern laced through the words as he looked at me.  
  
"I'll be fine," I whispered, crossing to the window and staring out over the dark grounds. I loved taking in the sight of the forest, hearing the sounds of the creatures that lived in it.  
  
I think I could have stared out that window, lost in my own thoughts, forever. Forever, until Draco captured my attention once more.  
  
He shoved me out of his way and sat on the windowsill, throwing his legs over to the outside and covering himself with my cloak. I laughed a little.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm sitting, Potter," he drawled, "what's it look like?"  
  
"Well, from here, it looks like you're about to throw yourself from the window, Draco."  
  
"Well, I'm not. Don't worry, Potter," Draco said.  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"I suppose..."  
  
"Why did you follow me up here? There must be a reason,"  
  
"I've told you, Potter. To make sure that you're always going to be the Golden Boy who I live to torment," he replied, a smile playing his face.  
  
"I intend to be," I said. There was no emotion in my voice.  
  
Again a heavy silence swallowed the room and we sat there glancing from each other to the window, then back again.  
  
"Potter... Harry? What's it like?"  
  
"What's what like?" I asked, even though I had a feeling what.  
  
"Being you. Defeating the Dark Lord... The Boy Who Lived..."  
  
"Excuse me?" I managed to choke out after a moment. Draco Malfoy, one of my several sworn enemies, had just asked me what it was like to be me.  
  
"What is it like to be... Loved?" he said. His voice was small and weak sounding. I had never thought Draco could be so... vulnerable?  
  
"What it's like to be me? I'd tell you, Malfoy, but I don't know if I can trust you.  
  
Why I even let you follow me up here escapes my knowledge," I snapped, a surge of defensive anger igniting in my stomach.  
  
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that, really," Draco said in that same meek voice.  
  
Draco was not behaving at all like I was used too and it was starting to make me wonder what was going on here.  
  
"Malfoy, what is with you? You're not acting like yourself. You used to be so cold and unfeeling and now you're being so... Dare I said it? Nice?" He said nothing. Just stared back at me, steel gray eyes boring into mine, seeing through me rather than actually taking the sight of me in.  
  
"I'm going," he said shortly. With that, he stood and hurried from the tower, still wrapped in my cloak.  
  
-_-`~`*`~`_`-*-`_`~`*`~`-_-  
  
Hours passed. I didn't get up, just shivered in the moonlight, considering why Draco had asked me what he did. It had made me nervous, but worst of all, I wanted to tell him. I wanted to trust him with my secrets. Things that even Ron and Hermione didn't... And never would... Know about me.  
  
It wasn't until the sun's light crept through the window and spread over my legs did I get up and trudge down the 587 stairs to the main corridor.  
  
I stepped into the Great Hall and was greeted with silence.  
  
"Everyone must still be asleep," I thought and settled myself on the side of the Gryffindor table nearest the High Table. I don't know how long I sat there, an hour maybe. I only looked up from my lap when I heard the door slowly swing open and saw Draco Malfoy step through it.  
  
"Harry?" He said, his voice flowing through the air in barely more than a whisper.  
  
"What?" I replied, my voice cold and indifferent. I shifted my weight on the bench so that I faced more away from him.  
  
"Can I talk to you?"  
  
"Why are you even bothering to ask? My saying 'no' hasn't stopped you the last couple of times you've wanted to 'talk' to me, has it, Malfoy?" I said, a note of impatience mixed with a cold, unfeeling anger that had burned just below my stomach since he had walked away after questioning me the previous evening.  
  
"And it won't stop me this time. I want to know about Voldemort... My father never tells me anything..." He said, his voice still in that same whisper. He started to walk toward me, his footsteps echoing off the walls as his feet crossed the stone floor.  
  
"You want to know about Voldemort?" I repeated back to him, shocked that he had the audacity to ask me this. "Because your father never tells you about him. Your father, who participated in the plot to have me murdered, who spoils you, who is in Azkaban now, hasn't told you?"  
  
I was very angry and nearly shouting by now, the only thing causing me to keep my voice down was fear of someone outside overhearing. Draco's eyes dropped from mine to the stone floor. Was that a tear? No. Couldn't be. When he looked back up I saw that it wasn't, just the way the light had angled on his pale face.  
  
"Yes, Potter, I want to know about the man who is responsible for my father's permanent imprisonment in Azkaban," he said, his fingers gripping into loose fists, not out of anger, his face was calm.  
  
"Draco, I'd tell you... I really would, but how do I know that you're not going to use what I tell you to try and take over... To free your father? I can't tell you Draco, I just can't. It's too risky and you wouldn't understand," I said, glaring at him.  
  
"Yes! He never told me! He'd come home with mysterious injuries... It was horrible for me to see that! He was my father!" Draco said, glaring back at me, a new emotion, malice, spreading over his features.  
  
"Draco, you don't know what it's like. You never had to fight him. You were never in any danger from him as your father was in his Inner Circle. He never... Never tried... To kill you..." my voice was failing me now. Visual memories flashing through my mind like a violent slideshow.  
  
He must have noticed the expression on my face because it was a minute before he pressed me again.  
  
"Harry, I never told you about my Aunt Bellatrix, did I?" Draco asked me in that same whisper.  
  
"Bellatrix Lestrange? Yeah, she's the one who killed my godfather, enough said," I said back through gritted teeth.  
  
"Yes... But not quite what I was getting at. She was Voldemort's favorite, ex- lover, even. But she was killed by him simply because she knew too much about him and he couldn't have that, could he? People knowing too much is probably what caused his downfall... And that's not a bad thing..."  
  
I didn't answer. I couldn't help but feel she'd gotten what she'd deserved after murdering Sirius, but I didn't say that out loud.  
  
By this time the sun has shifted position enough to shine in through the window and was dancing on Draco's blonde hair.  
  
"I'm sorry..." was all I was able to manage before the door swung open again and a stream of people entered the Hall for breakfast.  
  
The meal was eaten with Ron and Hermione in near silence, save for some idle chat about the Potions essay due first thing this morning.  
  
I stood to leave the Great Hall after the eggs and sausages had vanished from the plates and I had to walk past the Slytherin table to do it. I walked right past Malfoy who accidentally dropped a piece of parchment at my feet. I bent quickly to pick it up.  
  
Meet me on the big staircase at 11 pm -Malfoy  
  
~*~  
  
It wasn't as if I'd never been asked to meet anyone anywhere in the dead of night before, but Draco Malfoy? This wasn't happening.  
  
I paced the center step of the marble staircase and watched the door that I knew led to the Slytherin Common Room carefully.  
  
I was facing the opposite direction in my pacing when I finally heard his footsteps on the marble floor of the Entrance Hall. I watched him climb the stairs up to me, noticing for the first time how gracefully he moved. He definitely had beautiful eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight that was streaming in through the window over the oak doors.  
  
"Good evening," he said in that silky voice he used when he was speaking to someone he thought to be on his social level. I nodded, my eyes drifting over his body. In all of our years being enemies I had never really looked at him, save to glare menacingly, but now I saw him, really, really, saw him.  
  
His frame was thin, but not skinny, and you could see the muscles on his stomach and chest through the tight black shirt he was wearing.  
  
It wasn't until he reached over and grabbed my arm did I come back to reality from the alternate universe that the sight of him in the streaming moonlight had taken me to. I felt as though someone had hit me in the stomach, for a moment I actually wondered if he had hit me, but no. Just took my wrist and draped my cloak over my arm and released me. Was I disappointed? I can't say... I just know I felt, strange.  
  
I glanced at his face and he was looking at me, just looking, no emotion. "Why did you want to meet me?" I asked him finally, a yawn creeping into my voice.  
  
"Part to give you your cloak back to you as I seem to have walked off with it last night, and part to just talk to you. I think we've been enemies for so long for the wrong reasons. This may not seem like me talking, but it is and I really think that I could –"he started, but broke off.  
  
He sat down on the step in front of me and placed his head in his hands. He was obviously tired; I don't think he had slept at all the last two nights, not by the look of him, anyway. I know I hadn't.  
  
I yawned again and sat down next to him, resting my elbows on my knees and propping my chin up on my fist.  
  
"Tired, Draco?" I asked him in an offhanded tone, trying to sound as though I didn't care.  
  
"Mmmhmm," he said, his voice was low, as though it were a great effort for him to make the sound.  
  
I continued talking to him about such random things as Potions homework to how his mother was since his father had been carted away, but I always got the same answer.  
  
"Mmmhmm."  
  
I really stopped trying when he emitted a soft snore and slumped sideways into the rail on the stairs. I laughed a little and didn't have the heart to wake him.  
  
~*~  
  
That was the last thing I remember before I saw Snape's face looming ominously over me. I was laying across Draco's lap in what would have been a very uncomfortable position had I not been asleep when I moved into it.  
  
"Malfoy, Potter, wake up and explain yourselves!" He snapped in that voice that usually came from him when he was giving out detentions.  
  
It wasn't until I sat up and moved the cloak that was being used as a blanket from Draco did he wake up and look around, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I glanced past Snape and out the window where snow was swirling down in white torrents and coming to a stop on the green grass just outside the castle. 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
"Watsamatter?" He stammered, his face still sleepy and his eyes weren't focused which is probably why he didn't notice Snape right away. "I think you know perfectly well 'watsamatter', Mr. Malfoy," Snape said coldly, glaring at me, then at Draco. "Professor!" he said, suddenly snapping full awake but not looking at his surroundings. "I haven't finished that essay yet! Can I hand it in tomorrow?" "Yes, you can. Tomorrow is the only day this week you have my class," Snape said smoothly, still glaring at me but speaking to Draco, who had clearly forgotten I was there. "That's detention, I think. You not only slept – together – on the stairs, but that clearly means that you were up after hours. Your detention is to be served with me tonight. My dungeon at 8:30 pm," he continued, brushing past us and walking up the steps in the direction of the library. "Detention?" Draco repeated, still looking mildly confused. "Yeah. I guess we fell asleep," I replied, getting to my feet and helping Draco do the same. Draco nodded his goodbye and yawned again before stumbling down the stairs, obviously still tired and going back to bed. I got up and headed for Gryffindor Tower, thinking vaguely of a hot shower and clean clothes. I walked blindly through the corridors and nearly banged into the portrait of the fat lady who shouted at me to watch where I was walking. I gave her the password and stepped inside the Common Room. The fire was out and the room was void of all life save for Crookshanks asleep in a chair in front of the non-existent fire. I yawned and stretched my arms over my head, then started the stairs up the boy's dormitories. I pushed the door open and immediately saw Ron sitting at the foot of my bed, a dark scowl on his face. "Where have you been?" "Just... Out...." I said, lying in the middle of a loud yawn. "Well, you worry people when they wake up in the middle of the night to find you gone with no note or anything!" Ron said in a tone so reminiscent of his mother I couldn't help but laugh a little. I laughed even louder when his ears went a funny shade of reddish-purple and his cheeks followed suit. "What in the name of Merlin is so funny?" Ron snapped, his ears returning to almost their normal color. "I was.... Asleep," I said simply, walking across the carpet to my trunk from which I removed a clean change of clothes. "You - you're wearing the same clothes you were yesterday," Ron said accusingly. "Yeah.... I guess I am...." "Care to tell me... Why?" "I fell asleep in the common room in front of the fire. Dobby woke me up when he was cleaning," I lied, digging around for my comb. "You didn't. I've been down to the common room four times and you weren't there," Ron yelled, causing Neville to stir. Thankfully he didn't wake up. "Ok, I'll tell you where I was, if you promise to not start shouting and wake everyone up," I said hastily, giving him a silencing look.  
  
All right, I promise," Ron said, but his face was unconvincing.  
  
For a moment I actually considered telling him about how I had spent the night asleep with Draco, but no, I decided, I knew he wouldn't take it well.  
  
"I went for a walk and I feel asleep in the Entrance Hall. Snape woke me up a few minutes ago and gave me detention," I said, lying again. I didn't like lying to Ron, but he just wouldn't understand this.  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"I'm going to go shower before I go back to bed..." I said and Ron nodded.  
  
I threw my cloak on my bed and gathered up my clothes, then headed for the washroom. Once inside, I shut and locked the door behind me. I put my clothes on the countertop and started to undress. First kicking my shoes off, then my socks, then undoing my belt and letting my jeans fall, soon followed by the rest of my clothing. The cold in the room made me shiver and I reached over and turned the shower on. When the water was as warm as I could stand, I stepped inside and winced. The hot water in contrast to the cold air burned.  
  
I let the water wash over me... Soothe me... Relax me. I needed it. But the moment I relaxed myself enough to lean against the wall of the shower and close my eyes, Draco drifted across my mind again.  
  
I had never had a homosexual thought or urge in my entire seventeen years, but here I was, wanting, needing to be as near to Draco as I had been earlier.  
  
I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the crimson red wall, the Gryffindor emblem inscribed on it.  
  
I turned my back on the fall of the water and let it cascade down my back. I leaned my head back and allowed the water though my hair, guided by my fingers.  
  
I wonder what Draco's fingers would feel like...  
  
I shook that thought off immediately. I didn't want to think of Draco Malfoy like this. He was someone I had sworn to hate the moment I met him, and here I was, lusting after him like a silly schoolgirl.  
  
Ahh... But you were only eleven when you swore that to yourself...  
  
Came that impossible voice in the back of my mind that always managed to ruin any chance I had a conscious thought.  
  
I turned around to face the hot cascade of water again, reaching down to turn it off. I opened the door of the shower partially to allow my arm out to feel around for a towel. The steam that was clouding the air didn't make this easy, but I managed.  
  
I dried my face and my arms, then over my torso before I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out of the shower, again greeted by colder air that made me shiver involuntarily. I finished drying and dropped the towel to the floor and began to dress again, silk boxers feeling wonderful against my bare skin.  
  
I dressed in silence and willing myself not to think. All my thoughts seemed to turn to Draco, and I didn't want that. I couldn't possibly...  
  
I picked my shoes, socks and towel up off the floor and walked back into the dormitory where Ron and the others still slept soundly.  
  
Getting into my own bed, surrounded by the warmth that was the blankets and the memories of Draco's warm body I fell asleep almost immediately, and perhaps why I dreamed what I did...  
  
"I love you, Harry..." "I know," I whispered, pulling him close to me and kissing his forehead. I let my hands rub over his back and his head rest on me. How warm his breath was against my skin... How gentle his touch was... I never wanted this contact to end, I needed it to last... To never move...  
  
"Harry, wake up," Ron said in my ear, shaking my arm perhaps harder than usual. "I already let you sleep through breakfast, now get up. We've got Divination in twenty minutes."  
  
"Hmm?" I gurgled sleepily, barely having heard him.  
  
"Get up. Class," he repeated.  
  
I got up slowly, my feet finding the floor and I nearly fell sideways. I was still drowsy and not able to stand very well. It took me a moment to find my robes and clothes that I would be wearing that day, but when I did I looked at Ron.  
  
"What?" He asked me.  
  
"Can you go while I get changed?"  
  
"Harry, you've never cared before..." Ron said uncertainly, looking at me as though I'd gone mad.  
  
"Yes... Well, I care now," I said lamely, my eyes averting from his.  
  
"Fine," he said and swept from the room.  
  
I didn't mean to make Ron feel like I didn't want him around, but I suddenly felt very strange about who saw me dress or undress...  
  
~*~  
  
"This is, as you know, your N.E.W.T year. We will be going over basic principals of Seeing again, just as we did in your O.W.L. year, starting again, with the Dream Oracle," Professor Trelawney said, her voice just as misty as it ever was. "With only this week left before the Christmas holiday, I am going to assign you the Dream journal again, and have you interpret them. You may start now with any dreams you may have had last night."  
  
"Malfoy..." I whispered, my breath catching.  
  
I had suddenly remembered the dream I had that morning and the kisses and how warm he had been...  
  
"What?" Ron's voice interrupted my thoughts of Draco and dragged me back into the real world. "Why did you just whisper 'Malfoy'?"  
  
"Erm, just a dream I had last night Ron," I said, for once, being completely truthful.  
  
"About Malfoy?" Ron asked me, plainly confused.  
  
"Yeah, just your standard nightmare about the graveyard... Only it was Draco and not Voldemort..." I said, a pang of guilt coursing though me.  
  
"Oh, are you all right then?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine now."  
  
I had never been happier to hear the bell to signal the end of class, and even better, it was the only class I had before lunch.  
  
I think I'll go back up to the dormitory, Ron. Tell Hermione for me, will you?" I said, climbing through the portrait hole behind Ron and heading directly for the stairs.  
  
With the intent on sending a note to Draco, asking him to meet me in the Astronomy Tower an hour before we had to serve our detention, I pulled a spare piece of parchment out of the pocket of my cloak. I slowly unfolded it and set it on my bed, then started looking around for a quill and some ink.  
  
I finally located some in my bag, scowling slightly at the fact that the quill was bent a little at the top, but still useable. I picked up a heavy book to write on and then set the parchment down on it, but wait –  
  
IDecember 16, 1997, Wednesday  
  
I haven't had any word from my father since he was taken to Azkaban, after the fall of Voldemort, I haven't heard from anyone I used to know anymore. All my family have either been arrested or killed save for my mother who is home at the Manor. What she's doing there all alone escapes me. I'd have run away if it were I./I  
  
I stopped, completely dumbfounded. Words, written by Draco Malfoy by the look of the content and penmanship, were appearing on the parchment.  
  
IYes, it is entirely Harry Potter's fault that my father is back in Azkaban, but this time I don't care. Yes, I miss him, but he never was a wonderful father figure. He was never home and when he was he wasn't the most pleasant person to be around. Always swearing and angry and secretive. I remember how he used to be when he'd come home from work when I was a child, he seemed happy to see me then, like I wasn't the disappointment he now referred to me as. Why mother has put up with him for twenty-three years is completely beyond me. I assume it was an arranged marriage.  
  
Lord Voldemort was a very frightening man. I only met him once... He has eyes that seem to look through you rather than at you and a voice that makes your eardrums just want to crack. I met him when my father took me to meet the man that, according to him, would one day be my Lord and Master. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that they didn't brand the Mark on me right then and there, but were going to wait until I turned 18. 18, which I will be on the twenty-fifth of July./I  
  
"Wow..." I whispered to myself as the words continued to form. It was quite shocking for a piece of parchment to suddenly start showing me diary entries. Not to mention the fact that the last time something of this nature happened, it had been Voldemort in disguise. I never knew that Draco's birthday was just six days before mine...  
  
IIronic, perhaps, that my sworn enemy and me are born under the same sign and just six days apart. Yes, Harry Potter. Speaking of the Golden Boy, I had a lovely little chat with him this morning. I asked him what it was like to be him. Wondered what it was like to have the weight of the Magical and Muggle worlds on my shoulders. Until recently, I hated Potter, but now... It's different. I want to know him, really know him. I offered him friendship once and he all but spat in my face. But with the Voldemort era behind us all, I think that he might actually be beginning to accept me. He doesn't insult me or turn me away anymore, that's definitely a big change. I find myself thinking about him more and more lately, taking notice of how his hair always seems to fall in the right place or how the moon seems to create a glowing aura around him. Why, I do not know, but it confuses and scares me to the core of my very being. I need to go now, I am meeting Potter in an hour.../I  
  
I sat dead quiet for several moments, just staring and re-reading over the parchment. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five  
  
IDraco,  
I found this in the pocket of my cloak; I think it belongs to you. I'll see you in detention tonight.  
-H.J. Potter./I  
  
I attached it to the parchment that had extracted all of Draco's inner thoughts to me and walked over to Hedwig's cage, where she sat perched on top of it.  
  
"It's for Malfoy, Hedwig," I whispered to her, attaching it to her leg and opening the window.  
  
She hooted softly and nipped at my fingertip before taking flight though the window.  
  
~*~  
  
Draco wasn't in the Great Hall for lunch, nor did I see him in any of the corridors between classes that afternoon.  
  
"I've got to be going, Ron. I've got that detention with Snape..." I said, getting to my feet and starting towards the portrait hole. I glanced back and saw Hermione, slumped across the arm of her chair, sound asleep and laughed. Ron was watching her, too.  
  
"All right. Don't have too much fun now," he said, tearing his eyes away from her and smirking.  
  
"That won't be difficult, trust me," I said, returning the smirk and pushing the portrait open.  
  
I waked silently with my hands buried deep in my pockets, taking the long way to the dungeons. My mind drifted back to Draco. I saw him all the time around the school, but not today.  
  
8:15  
  
I looked up and saw that I was not too far from the dungeons, but I'd still have to hurry if I wanted to be on time for my detention. I didn't particularly want to be on time, but what choice did I have?  
  
"Potter," came a cold drawl from the shadows.  
  
"Draco?" I said, squinting around, my heart thudding painfully against my rib cage.  
  
"Hmm. Here for Snape's detention. Just making sure that was you slinking around in the dark and not the Bloody Baron," Draco said, shuddering.  
  
"You're not scared, are you?" I said, grinning at him.  
  
"Scared? Me?" He said, and then laughed.  
  
He leaned back against the wall of the corridor, pressing his hand to his forehead and staring at the ground.  
  
"Are you all right?" I asked him, taking a single step forward.  
  
"Fine. Perfectly fine," he said with a heavy sigh and started down the steps to Snape's dungeon.  
  
~*~  
  
"Now, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, you have been given detention for a reason that I'm not sure even I care to know," Snape drawled delicately. "Anyway, you'll be scrubbing out those cauldrons until they shine. You do not leave until they sparkle."  
  
I stared at where he was pointing and saw twelve or so cauldrons that looked like they were meant to be silver, but were now a grungy blackish color.  
  
"Professor, can't we just copy lines or something?" Draco asked imploringly, giving the cauldrons a sick look.  
  
"No, Mr. Malfoy, you may not 'copy lines,' and if you ask such a stupid question again you'll have a week of detentions," Snape barked.  
  
I saw a pout flash across Draco's face, but he regained his composure quickly.  
  
"So, I suppose we're stuck cleaning these things then...." He said, picking up a rag and holding about foot away from his body and between two fingers.  
  
Poor Draco. I could tell he'd never done a moment of manual labor in his entire life and his hands were bleeding by the time we finished. I, however, was used to it and didn't even blister.  
  
When Snape was finally satisfied with the condition of the cauldrons he allowed us to leave.  
  
"Potter, Malfoy, it's nearly one a.m., are you finished yet?  
  
We nodded and Draco hid his bleeding hands in his pockets.  
  
"Fine. You may leave," Snape said, his lip curling.  
  
And so we did. We walked up to the Astronomy Tower again under the pretences of talking about the events of earlier that day.  
  
"So, you read my diary..." Draco said, his eyes averting away from me and focusing on the steps in front of him.  
  
"Well... Yes, but –"I started, but he cut me off.  
  
"Everything that I feel is on that parchment... I'm surprised you even sent it back. I'm sure your friend Ron would have thought it a fantastic joke to read it aloud to the entire school!" he said, making a noise that I couldn't distinguish between a hiccup and a sob.  
  
"Draco, I –"I started again, taking the first step off the stairs and into the Tower.  
  
"So, now you know what I think and how I feel. What do you think of me now? Scared and forlorn is not exactly the reputation I have worked so hard to build for myself," he continued, now standing with his back to me, his hands on the window ledge.  
  
"Draco, I didn't take it from you –"  
  
"Now you know exactly why I asked you what it was like to be you. I could never do what you do. How you carry it all..." he sighed audibly and made another hiccupping noise.  
  
"I found it in my cloak pocket... The only way it could have gotten there is you putting it there before you gave me the cloak back," I said quickly before he could interrupt me again.  
  
"Oh... Yes... I suppose...." He said, his shoulders heaving.  
  
I stood and walked over to him, grabbing his shoulder to turn him around to face me. When he shrugged me off I rubbed my left hand up and down his back softly.  
  
"Draco, I know what it's like to be scared like that. To not have a proper family. I know, I understand...." I whispered, willing him with every particle of my being to not cry. I couldn't take it if he cried.  
  
He pulled away from me again, this time walking a few paces away and sitting down against the wall.  
  
"Draco, the only father I've ever known is my Uncle Vernon who is quite possibly the most unpleasant muggle in existence. My Aunt Petunia is a gossip who resembles a horse and my cousin, Dudley, used me a punching bag for 13 years, I know what it's like to have no family that you can count on," I said, sitting next to him.  
  
"It's not just my family, Potter... It's other things... You read it... you know..." he said, burying his face in his hands as though to hide from me.  
  
"Look, I've met Voldemort, too, and I agree, he wasn't a nice guy. But at least he didn't want to kill you, be thankful for that..." I said, watching him carefully.  
  
He looked up at me now, a silent tear running down his otherwise flawless cheek. I couldn't stop myself; I reached over and wiped that tear away because I couldn't stand to see it. His eyes opened a little more and he didn't flinch away from me, so I moved a little closer to him.  
  
I wanted to comfort him, to hold him while he cried, but would he let me? I wiped another of his tears away, but this time I leaned a little closer, and he leaned back. I'm not sure which of us kissed the other first, but it really didn't matter. In about three seconds everything I thought I knew about the world changed. Suddenly every confusing thought I had had all that day was gone and I knew exactly how I felt about Draco... But what if it wasn't mutual? I broke the kiss at that point, not being able to stand the agony that was the possibility of him not wanting me any longer.  
  
"I'm sorry, Draco," I whispered before getting quickly to my feet and running from the tower, taking the steps two and three at a time.  
  
~*~  
  
Back in the Gryffindor Common Room I collapsed in a chair, completely out of breath and feeling like I might cry.  
  
"Harry?" came a voice from the girl's dormitory stairs. Hermione.  
  
"Are you all right, Harry?" she asked me, stepping through the door and coming to join me at the table.  
  
"Yeah... I'm fine..." I said, staring down at my lap.  
  
"You haven't been acting fine the last couple of days. Ron say's you've been out all night and not sleeping and that you whispered 'Malfoy' in Divination yesterday..." She said all of this very quickly so her breath was shallow now.  
  
"So Ron's been spying on me... That's great, just wonderful," I snapped, glaring intently at the wall.  
  
"Well, it's not just Ron. Ginny noticed you staring at Malfoy the other day in the Great Hall..."  
  
My stomach was in knots. Ginny had caught me staring at Draco... I could just hope that Hermione hadn't put the obvious together.  
  
"Is there something going on with you that you'd like to tell me, Harry? You know that if you don't want me to tell anyone, I won't. You know me better than that, Harry..." she whispered, staring at me as though it would get me to spill my secrets to her.  
  
"Hermione, you know as well as I do that I hate Malfoy," I lied, not looking at her. "It is perfectly common for someone to stare evilly at their enemy."  
  
"Well.... Yes... I suppose so... Harry, there's definitely something bothering you, I can tell," she said, continuing to press me.  
  
"I'm going to bed," I said shortly, standing and sweeping up the stairs.  
  
~*~  
  
I had never been so happy for it to be Friday. Classes were the same as usual, except for Potions, which was again, the only time that day that I saw Draco. I didn't go to breakfast or lunch. Hermione snuck me some dinner in her bag.  
  
"Harry, Qudditch practice tomorrow at 3," Ron said as he walked into the dormitory just as I bit off a chunk of a chicken leg.  
  
"All right," I said, taking another bite.  
  
The rest of that evening came and went as quickly as I could possibly hope for. I was really looking forward to the next day, not only because of Qudditch, but it was also the start of the Christmas holiday. No classes, and it would also be much easier to avoid Draco...  
  
~*~  
  
"Ok team, good practice. It is our last one before classes start again, so do try not to forget everything over the next two weeks. Harry, I don't know what's been with you lately, but if you're that distracted against Slytherin after the holiday, Malfoy is going to beat us!" Ron said, flailing violently as though it would get his point across better.  
  
I muttered a reply and walked across the field and into the changing room.  
  
"Harry, what was with you today?" Ginny said as she put her broomstick in the cupboard and started folding her robes.  
  
"Just tired. I haven't been sleeping well," I answered.  
  
I waited to change until everyone had gone. I still didn't want anyone to watch me undress.  
  
Once I finished changing and everyone was gone, I left the changing room and started back to the castle, only vaguely noticing that the sun was starting to set over the lake. I stepped into the Entrance Hall and was greeted by wonderful warmth coming from the Great Hall. I assumed it was coming from whatever the House Elves were doing in the kitchens and immediately thought of Dobby.  
  
"Harry," came a voice from a corridor just to my left. I stopped and blinked.  
  
Whoever it was reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me into the corridor.  
  
"We really need to talk," said the now recognizable whisper of Draco Malfoy.  
  
I just stared at him. I couldn't believe he was talking to me, let alone come to find me. I would have thought he'd think me to be some sick madman and want to avoid me I started to pull away but he grabbed me by my forearm, pulling me back and then pressing me into the wall. He held me there by my shoulders and stared at my face, his steely eyes demanding answers.  
  
This wasn't unpleasant aside from the fact that a stone from the wall was digging into my back.  
  
"You kissed me," he said, his voice still low. Was his voice accusing? I couldn't tell.  
  
I turned my head. I couldn't look at him. He released my left arm and cupped my cheek with his now-free right hand, forcing me to look back at him.  
  
"I'm... Sorry..." was all I could bring myself to say. What else was there to say?  
  
He started to say something that sounded a lot like 'Don't be,' but I broke away from him and ran back into the Entrance Hall and up the Marble steps in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. This time I didn't stay to watch him vanish into the Slytherin dungeon.  
  
~*~  
  
"Harry, you and I need to talk," Hermione said, approaching me in the common room after it emptied around midnight.  
  
"About what?" I had a vague feeling that it was going to be about me spending more time on the Qudditch Pitch than I did studying for my N.E.W.Ts.  
  
"Draco Malfoy," she said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Oh yeah? What about him?"  
  
"I think you know perfectly well what about him, Harry," she said, her voice laced with impatience.  
  
My stomach clenched. Had she seen me with him earlier?  
  
"No, Hermione, I don't," I lied, staring avidly into the fireplace.  
  
"Well then, I'll refresh your memory," she said, her eyes rolling.  
  
"Hmm?" I said, encouraging her as though I didn't care.  
  
I sake back into the high-backed chair I was sitting in, hoping to Merlin it would just swallow me and I wouldn't have to her what I knew Hermione was going to say.  
  
"Well, you were coming though the Entrance Hall, and he grabbed you. He pulled you into the Charms corridor and you tried to get away. Malfoy pulled you back and pressed you into the wall and when you looked away, he turned your head back to him. It was all too gentle to be violent. What is going on, Harry?" She said, her voice faltering and dropping to a whisper towards the end.  
  
I didn't know what to say to her. I felt bad for not telling her everything, but admitting it makes it real, and I'm still not sure how happy I am about feeling this way about a Malfoy.  
  
"Hermione, I can't tell you. It's a long story that I just can't get into. Please don't make me right now..." I said, getting up from the chair.  
  
"Harry, sit down and talk to me," she ordered, pointing at the chair I had just risen from.  
  
"Hermione, if you must know," I started, not really knowing how I was going to finish that sentence. "He challenged me to a duel and the gentleness was a severe display of sarcasm."  
  
"Oh... I was so sure... Well, it's much better than what I thought it was. It actually looked like, for a moment, that he was going to – kiss you," Hermione said, a blush starting on her cheeks.  
  
"Me? Kiss Malfoy?" I said, trying to laugh it off.  
  
"Yes, I know it's ridiculous, but it's what it looked like, okay?" She said, laughing and flushing even darker.  
  
"Can I go to bed now? I haven't been eating or sleeping and I'd like to do both sometime in the next 8 hours," I said, really laughing for the first time in days.  
  
"Haha yes, go," said, also laughing.  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning at breakfast I was still in the good mood that avoiding Hermione's third degree had induced.  
  
We ate and laughed, Ron and Hermione definitely noticed the sudden change in my mood and didn't say anything. I assume they were afraid that bringing it up would somehow make it vanish.  
  
"Mail's here!" Neville said excitedly, obviously expecting something from his grandmother. I wasn't expecting anything from anyone, so I kept eating.  
  
"Ow! Hedwig!" I said when I felt talons in my shoulder, something Hedwig had never done.  
  
"Harry, that's not Hedwig," Hermione observed.  
  
Indeed. Malfoy's eagle owl was perched on my shoulder, glaring at me as though to say 'take your letter or I'll rid you of your eyes.'  
  
I untied the letter, from the owl's leg and glanced in Draco's direction. He was looking at me and nodded when I started to open the letter.  
  
"I don't think you should open that," Ron said, glaring at Draco from across the room.  
  
"Why not?" I asked, completely dumbfounded. Of course I wasn't going to open it at the table. I wasn't stupid.  
  
"Might be cursed," Hermione said, and by the look on Ron's face, she had said exactly what he was thinking. "Especially after what you told me last night, Harry."  
  
"What did he tell you last night?" Ron said, clearly irked that Harry and told Hermione something and not him.  
  
"Just that's he got a duel with Malfoy," Hermione said, shrugging.  
  
I'm going. Snape gave us an essay to do over the Holiday..." I said, picking the letter up and leaving the Great Hall for Gryffindor Tower.  
  
Upon arriving, I tore the letter open.  
  
Harry, Meet me in the corridor off the library at 9 a.m. today. Please be there. Draco J. Malfoy  
  
I threw the note down on my pillow and pulled out a piece of parchment to scratch my essay on.  
  
I decided I would go see what Draco wanted, although I had a fair idea. He is going to yell at me and hurt me about the kiss I gave him in the Astronomy Tower. I know that is what it's going to be. And if he asks me why I kissed him? What in the name of Merlin could I tell him? Tell him I love him? Yeah, right. Tell him I don't know? As if he'd believe that. Not answer him at all and just kiss him again? I wish. I really don't know what I'm going to do.  
  
I came back to the real world and started scribbling an essay that I could pass off as the work I'd done in the library.  
  
Unicorn blood can restore life to those who are even a second from death, although in most cases it is not worth it. Unicorns are precious and gentle and anyone who would slay them for their blood will have a cursed life.  
  
"Good enough," I muttered and stuffed it into my jeans pocket.  
  
I groaned. It was 8:42 already. I had to go.  
  
Hermione stopped me in the common room.  
  
"Harry, are you going to the library?"  
  
"Yeah," I lied.  
  
"I should do that essay, too. I think I'll go with you," she said, getting to her feet.  
  
"No, don't. I need to do this one myself," I said hastily.  
  
"Oh, all right. It's about time you didn't ask to copy my essays. I think I'll just join you in an hour or so when you get some of it done, okay?" She said, not looking put out in the slightest.  
  
"Okay, see you then," I said, turning away from her and leaving through the portrait hole.  
  
I walked up the hallway and down two flights of stairs. I took a wrong turn because I was so deep in thought, so I had to double back.  
  
When I arrived Draco was peering around the corner of the corridor, apparently looking for me.  
  
"You're late. I was starting to think that you that you weren't coming," he said.  
  
Was he pouting?  
  
"I'm sorry. Hermione stalled me and then I took a wrong turn..." I said. Lame excuses, but they were true.  
  
"It's okay. It gave me another moment to think," he said with a sigh. "We really do need to talk though Harry."  
  
"I know..."  
  
He looked at me then. I mean really looked at me. Not through me or past me, but at me.  
  
"You kissed me..." He said again, just as he had yesterday.  
  
"I'm sorry..."  
  
"Don't be. I wanted it... I wish you hadn't pulled away..." Draco said, wincing as though the words burned in his throat.  
  
I blinked. I was completely stupefied by his this revelation.  
  
"You... wanted to kiss me?" I said, my breath catching and affecting the vocal quality of my voice.  
  
"Yeah..." he replied, a pink flush appeared on his pale cheeks.  
  
He took my wrists and pulled me around the corner so that we were better hidden from view, leaning me into the wall.  
  
"Do you want to know how I would have kissed you?"  
  
I grinned. He wasn't going to interrogate me; he was going to kiss me. My heart was thudding again and my breath was still catching. "Yes..." I replied as I felt myself blush.  
  
"Well, I might have done this..." he whispered as he stepped closer to me and wrapped one of his arms around my waist. His free hand was cupping my cheek again, only this time he was rubbing gently with his thumb.  
  
I nodded, too weak from shock to do much else. Draco, however, seemed to know exactly what he was doing, either that or he had rehearsed all of this very well.  
  
He leaned down a little and trailed kisses over my jaw, the hand that was around my back was rubbing in circles.  
  
"Draco, what are you doing...?"  
  
"What's it look like I'm doing?" he said, snickering and kissing down my neck.  
  
I stayed silent after that. I really had nothing to say. I just let his lips playfully tug at my neck as I stood there, completely dumbfounded, for several minutes.  
  
"You got quiet," he whispered, brushing his fingers through my hair.  
  
"I'm sorry..." I replied, not being able to think of anything else to say.  
  
"It's okay... just relax," he said firmly, placing his lips carefully on mine  
  
Relax? As if that were going to happen. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him closer to me.  
  
His kisses are rough and he nibbles on my lower lip. I moaned a little. His body was warm and his kisses were sweet. Exactly how'd I'd imagined them.  
  
Footsteps.  
  
Draco must have heard them too because he stepped back from me and gave me a warning look to keep quiet.  
  
"We need to go before someone catches us...." He whispered.  
  
I rolled my eyes. He can kiss me like that when no one knows about it, but as soon as there's risk to his reputation, he leaves.  
  
"Yes, I know..."  
  
"Meet me back here at midnight, all right?" He whispered, leaning in and kissing my cheek.  
  
He left before I could agree. Probably because if I he didn't stay for me to agree, I couldn't disagree, either.  
  
~*~  
  
Back in the Gryffindor Common Room a few minutes later I found Hermione and Ron sitting in high backed chairs, glaring at me.  
  
"Is something wrong?" I asked them stupidly. I still wasn't off the mental high that Draco had given me.  
  
"You kissed Malfoy," Ron said.  
  
"You lied to us," Hermione continued.  
  
"You kissed Malfoy," Ron said.  
  
"You betrayed our trust," Hermione said.  
  
"YOU KISSED MALFOY," Ron yelled.  
  
"Ron, shut it," Hermione snapped. "You felt that you couldn't trust us..."  
  
"I – "I started, but Hermione clearly didn't want to hear it.  
  
"You lied, Harry. Not once, but several times, to me and to Ron, that hurts Harry. It really hurts," Hermione said, tears of what I assumed was anger in her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't tell you...." I whispered. "I'm assuming that's what happened to your lip," Ron questioned angrily.  
  
My memory suddenly flashed back to Draco attacking my lips with his and I immediately knew what Ron meant. I compulsively wiped my mouth with the back of my hand but I knew that anything that silly wasn't going to make the redness in my lips or cheeks go away.  
  
"Well, yes I..." I admitted truthfully.  
  
"Harry, I have nothing to say to you right now...." Hermione whispered from her place in the chair.  
  
I had always known Hermione to be a rational person. For her to break off a friendship over something that should be understandable was very out of character for her.  
  
"Me either. Go be with your precious Draco," Ron spat. He got up and stormed up the stairs and Hermione did the same.  
  
I sank into the chair that had been a moment before occupied by Hermione, my head in my hands. My elation had been deflated in just a few moments... But could I really expect them to understand? I had lied to them....I had never felt so horrible in my entire life. 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six  
  
I didn't move from that chair. I didn't go to lunch. I didn't go to dinner. I only saw Hermione and Ron again when they left to go the Great Hall at mealtimes. The only happy thought that I had was seeing Draco at midnight, but that was what had gotten me into trouble in the first place. Another problem was what would Draco do when I told him that because of what happened earlier my two best friends weren't talking to me? I still didn't know what was going on with him and me. One day he's calling me the "Golden Boy" in mocking tones, and the next he's kissing me in an empty corridor.  
  
I got up for the first time in several hours, my legs barely supporting my weight. I gripped the arm of the chair for support and once steady, I left the common room.  
  
Walking blindly into the Entrance Hall and out the oak doors, I considered visiting Hagrid, but I didn't much feel like talking. A walk around the lake, maybe. It was six o'clock now and getting dark. I don't think I'll stray far. I finally decided on sitting against the outer wall of the castle for a while. I needed to be outside, at any rate. After a few moments the chilling evening air numbed me so that I couldn't even feel the bite of the wind any more.  
  
Remember your meeting with Draco.... said that little voice in my head that seemed to be visiting me so much lately. Thinking about Draco is exactly what I don't want to do right now.  
  
Time passed. Thoughts came and went. Wind blew by. And then it was nearly ten p.m. I was shocked. 13 hours since I'd kissed Draco and only two until I had to meet him again. I suppose I'd had too much on my mind to be anxious about the time.  
  
When I stood my blood started to flow though my body at a faster pace, warming me up and causing me to shiver in the sudden temperature change. I walked up the steps and opened the door, again feeling the warmth that was the Entrance Hall. My eyes trailed over the marble stairs and across the floor to the door that was to the Slytherin Common Room where I knew Draco would be.  
  
~*~  
  
I paced the corridor at 11:45 p.m. hoping he'd be early or that the time would pass faster. I sank against the wall opposite where he had had me pressed up against this morning, grinning despite myself and how upset I was.  
  
Finally he showed up, coming around the corner silently. I smirked and noted that ninjas made more noise than he did and I hoped that that wasn't always the case.  
  
"Good evening, Harry," he said smoothly as he crossed the stone floor and sat next to me.  
  
I nodded and moved a little closer to him. I was cold and needed someone's body heat. Not to mention the fact that he was just about the only person who I wanted to talk to that would talk to me. I suppose he guessed what I wanted because he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me even closer.  
  
I whimpered a little from the feeling of being so happy and so upset at the same time. Everything seemed to go away while he was there, although it bubbled just below the surface.  
  
"How was your day, Harry?" He whispered, squirming next to me as though the silence had been too much for him.  
  
"Terrible..." I said. I snuggled against his shoulder, feeling more comfortable than I had all day.  
  
"Care to tell me about it?" Draco asked, his free hand reaching for mine.  
  
"Ron and Hermione... Hermione somehow found out about what happened earlier..." I gestured to the other side of the corridor "... and they got really angry... They won't even talk to me..."  
  
"Stupid mudblood and muggle-lover..." Draco said under his breath. The hand that had mine was stroking my fingers gently.  
  
I glared at him. I might not be on speaking terms with Ron and Hermione but I still wasn't going to let him talk about them that way. I started to stand up but he pulled me back. Damnit. I probably could have gotten away from him too, but he still had my hand...  
  
"I'm sorry... It slipped," he said, kissing my forehead and squeezing my hand.  
  
I frowned, but nodded, settling myself next to him again. I didn't have the energy to fight with him, too.  
  
He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my fingertips. It felt nice. Gentle, not rough like his kisses had been, although I'd liked that as well.  
  
"Draco...?" I whispered, pulling my hand away from his lips and lacing my fingers with his.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You're not... Being put up to this, are you?" I said, squeezing his hand possessively.  
  
"Who would put me up to this, of all the pranks...." Draco said, trying to laugh it off, but I was very serious.  
  
"So Crabbe or Zabini or someone didn't dare you or pay you or – "  
  
"No," he said firmly, closing the matter whether I liked it or not.  
  
I sighed and looked up at him, smiling for the first time since he'd kissed me last. He took the hint and pressed his lips first against my cheek, then my lips. He teased with his tongue until I opened my mouth just enough to allow him access.  
  
Draco pulled away then, staring me, his eyes searching mine as though to make sure this was what I really wanted.... What he really wanted.  
  
"Draco don't stop... Just kiss me..." I whispered, wrapping my arm around his neck and pulling his lips back down to mine. I really did need him right then. He obliged. His tongue slipped into my mouth again, slowly exploring and massaging over mine.  
  
My first thought was to push him away. This was a bit much so quickly, but I didn't. Not yet. I moaned a little against his lips, my arms pulling him even closer to me. The corridor had started to spin and fade from existence at the same time.... But then, he stopped again.  
  
I whimpered again, opening my eyes and staring at him.  
  
"Why'd you stop?" I whispered, running my fingers through his blonde hair. His hair was soft to the touch and I kept my hand where it was for a moment, grinning up at him.  
  
"Because..." he said, slouching against the wall so that he was almost laying down, but his head and shoulders were still being supported by the stone. "Lay down."  
  
He put his hand on his chest to indicate exactly where he wanted me to lay and I did, snuggling close to him.  
  
I draped one of my arms across his stomach and the other one I tucked closely to myself, his right hand was rubbing my back and his left was holding mine. He kissed the top of my head and leaned back into the wall.  
  
The stone floor was freezing, but Draco was warm and kept me warm. We could have been lying in the snow and I'd still have been warm...  
  
"Cold, Harry?"  
  
"What?" I asked. I hadn't heard him.  
  
"Are you cold? You shivered..." he said, pulling me, if that were possible, closer.  
  
"Did I?"I asked dumbly.  
  
He just nodded and started to stand up.  
  
"Where are you going?" I said, making a face and scrambling to my feet after him.  
  
"You and I are going to go down to the Slytherin Common Room to get a blanket, then we are going to go up to the Astronomy Tower... Less chance of Snape there," he said, smiling and taking my hand again.  
  
I grinned and walked with him. Around corners, down stairs, finally into the Entrance Hall and the doorway that lead down to the Slytherin Common Room. He pulled the door open with his free hand, as the other was still holding mine, and led me down a dark, but short, corridor.  
  
Draco gave the password, which I didn't quite catch because I was too busy trying to adjust to the darkness.  
  
The stone door slid open to reveal the Slytherin Common Room exactly how I remembered it. Exactly, with the exception of Blaise Zabini lounging on a couch, staring at the door that Draco and myself had just stepped though.  
  
"So it was true... I'll have to make a note to myself to believe more of what that mudblood says," Blaise said with the air of one who was merely commenting on the weather.  
  
"Excuse me?" Draco asked in an overly polite voice. I could tell he knew exactly what Blaise meant.  
  
"I mean you and him," Blaise said, pointing from Draco to me and rolling his eyes.  
  
"Why are you even awake. It's 1:30 in the morning and everyone else is in bed," Draco spat, steering the subject away from dangerous waters.  
  
"I was up waiting for you to come back so I could tell you the ridiculous story I heard about you and Potter kissing in some corridor earlier, but now I see this, and now I just tell you that you sicken me," Blaise said, his tone going from laughter to disgust.  
  
Draco's grip on my hand was painfully tight now and his free hand was forming into a fist.  
  
"Shut up Zabini," he snapped, brandishing his fist threateningly.  
  
"Why don't you let go of your boyfriend and fight me like a man, Draco," Blaise challenged, snickering on the word 'man'.  
  
"Draco..." I whispered, looking at him.  
  
He ignored Blaise and looked at me.  
  
"What," he whispered back.  
  
I just let his hand go and shook my head, glaring at Blaise. I had had quite enough. Draco and me had been together for not even twenty-four hours and already we were getting more crap than Salazar and Godric would have gotten.  
  
"Well, are you going to fight me, or not?"  
  
"No," Draco said, walking over to the couch where Blaise sat and snatched his blanket away, then tossed it to me. "I'm going to leave."  
  
I felt a sudden rush of gratitude toward Draco. If he and Blaise got into a fight it would have attracted attention, not only to the certain bloodshed, but to the fact that I, Harry Potter, was in the Slytherin Common Room.  
  
He grabbed my hand again and I took one last look around the room, which was sparkling silver in the firelight. I couldn't help but think that it would have been a shame to see Blaise's blood spilled on the hunter green carpet.  
  
A dragging motion on my arm told me that Draco had left the room and was taking me with him, leaving Blaise sitting there, now without a blanket but with a very angry look on his face.  
  
We walked in silence until about halfway up the stairs to the tower, Draco still fuming with rage.  
  
"I'm sorry...." I whispered, slowing down a little and loosening my grip on him.  
  
"Sorry? Whatever for?" Draco asked, stopping and tipping my chin up with his fingertips.  
  
"About Blaise..." I said, wanting more than anything to hug him. But I couldn't as the blanket was draped over my free arm.  
  
"Don't be. He's a git. His aunt on his mother's side is a squib," Draco said, snickering.  
  
I smiled, even though I normally didn't find things like that amusing, the fact that there was someone non-magical that close to Blaise's family couldn't be good for his reputation. Leave it to Draco to point that out.  
  
He kissed my forehead and we continued up the stairs in silence. I felt a little better now, knowing that Draco was angry with Blaise and not me.  
  
We reached the tower and Draco put some sort of charm on the walls and floor to make them radiate a comfortable amount of heat and to make them soft enough to sleep on. Draco always had been gifted with charms.  
  
He lay down next to the wall and motioned for me to go lay down with him, as I had been before. He tucked the blanket around us and whispered a goodnight, leaving another kiss on the top of my head. He fell asleep within minutes. I, on the other hand, lay awake with my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat and the steady inhale exhale pattern of his breath for what seemed like hours. 


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven  
  
I must have eventually fallen asleep because the next thing that I can remember was waking up and Draco not being next to me. I made a noise, starting to panic a little, I turned and he was sitting on the window ledge, watching me.  
  
"You scared me," I accused, glaring first at him, then where I thought he should be laying.  
  
I don't know what made me attach to Draco so quickly, but at this particular moment I wouldn't have wanted to be with anyone else. Perhaps the loss of Ron and Hermione was still raw and making me do strange things... Like fall asleep with Malfoy... Again.  
  
"How exactly did I scare you? He said airily glancing out the window for a moment.  
  
I suddenly felt very stupid. He was there and had been all along. I had almost panicked for no reason and it was making me feel quite foolish.  
  
"Erm.... Never mind..." I said, blushing.  
  
Draco grinned and came back to sit by me. He settled himself into the corner and pulled me close, covering us in the blanket again.  
  
"Blaise is going to tell people, isn't he?" I asked weakly. I got enough negative attention without this being spread around school....  
  
"Yes, he probably will. Do you want to deny everything and just stop all this?" Draco asked, staring down at me.  
  
I didn't answer for a moment. My eyes looked from the window down over the stone walls and floor of the small tower. In the back of my mind I noted that the charm Draco had used earlier was wearing off and the room was getting cold again. After a moment in silence he nudged me in the ribs with the heel of his hand.  
  
"Well....?" He asked, moving slightly and resting his chin on my shoulder.  
  
"No..."  
  
"No what?" he whispered, kissing my neck between words.  
  
How could anyone not want him? Even if he was rude and obnoxious and stuck up, he was gentle when he wanted to be.  
  
"No I don't want to deny it...It would be no use denying it..." I said with a heavy sigh. I knew this was bad, not to mention didn't make any sense. Me and my worst enemy kissing... Falling asleep together... Protecting each other... It was all too strange, but that was part of what was making me trust it.  
  
He nodded, his chin digging into my collar bone as he did.  
  
"Then what are we going to do? I won't be able to salvage my reputation after Blaise is finished. I'm sure he'll embellish it and embroider it over to make it sound like he saw much more than he did.... He's like that," Draco said quietly.  
  
I knew his reputation meant a lot to him, it always had. That's not a hard thing to spot, really.  
  
~*~  
  
The holidays passed without much incident. Draco and I spent every moment together and avoiding everyone else completely. We didn't go to the Great Hall at mealtimes, but snuck down to the kitchens at midnight where Dobby, grudgingly, mind you, gave Draco and I food.  
  
"That elf never did like me," Draco said, looking amused.  
  
"Gee, I wonder why," I replied sarcastically and threw a muffin at him.  
  
"Hey!" He said, grinning and throwing it back.  
  
"Ack no!" I said, giggling like a little girl.  
  
I grabbed him by the wrists and forced him to the ground where I pinned him, straddling over his stomach and holding his shoulders down with my hands. His hands rubbed over my thighs as I leaned down to kiss him, completely forgetting that we were surrounded by about a hundred house- elves.  
  
"Harry Potter sir!" came Dobby's voice.  
  
I sighed and broke the kiss with Draco to look at Dobby, who's eyes were even larger than usual.  
  
"Harry Potter cannot kiss Master Malfoy!" Dobby shouted indignantly.  
  
"Master Malfoy?" Draco sneered, "you didn't call me that when you worked for us and I don't suggest you start now.  
  
I laughed at Draco and at the horrified look on Dobby's face.  
  
"Why can't I kiss him, Dobby?"  
  
Draco answered before Dobby could.  
  
"Don't mind him, Harry. Just 16 years of listening to my homophobic Father has addled his view of the world," he drawled, glaring at Dobby.  
  
I stared at him. I had completely forgotten that Lucius Malfoy was alive and in prison.  
  
"So I don't suppose your Father will be too pleased when he finds out about us,? I asked nervously, Dobby's presence escaping my memory.  
  
"Of course he wouldn't. Don't worry though, he's got a life sentence, he won't be bothering us," Draco whispered, rubbing my thigh again.  
  
"Master Malfoy, stop it!" Dobby screamed, looking like he might explode.  
  
"I'd rather continue, if it's all the same to you," Draco said coldly, glaring at the little elf.  
  
"No, Draco, I think he's right. We at least shouldn't be doing this in front of impressionable little elves..." I said, snickering inwardly. Hermione would be so angry if she heard me refer to them that way.  
  
~*~  
  
Classes started again the following Monday. I could only remember two occasions where I had been so miserable. One was, of course, the Triwizard Tournament where three quarters of the school thought me to be a glory- hound. The other was fifth year when the majority of the wizarding population thought I was a lying madman when I tried to tell them Voldemort was back.  
  
Yes, Blaise had told anyone who would stand still long enough that he had caught me and Draco doing "unspeakable things" in the corridor that led to Snape's dungeon.  
  
Draco, of course, wanted to tear Zabini to shreds and feed him to the skrewts, but I wouldn't let him. It was bad enough without him being expelled for murdering the stupid git.  
  
"Hey, Potter, where's your boyfriend?" Blaise called across the Charms corridor as I headed for my class Monday morning.  
  
"He's in Defense Against the Dark Arts," I said coolly and with an indifferent look on my face. "What about yours?"  
  
Blaise's face went red, then purple, then back to it's normal color in about five seconds and he drew his wand.  
  
I pulled my wand out of my pocked and stood in the ready position to duel. We both completely ignored the rules of engagement in our haste to curse each other as badly as we possibly could before a teacher swooped down on us.  
  
"Densaugeo!" Blaise yelled, taking careful aim at me.  
  
I instinctively ducked and the shot of green light went right over my head. Judging by the sound, it hit a first year.  
  
"Tarantallegra!" I shouted, aiming at his left knee.  
  
I laughed as his legs started jerking around in a stupid looking tap dance. Letting my guard down wasn't a good idea. "Rictusempra," he said when he got a chance to aim at me again.  
  
We had started to attract a crowd by now, and my choking laughter as I was hit by the tickling charm didn't help.  
  
"Incendio!" I choked out between convulsions of laughter.  
  
Blaise squeaked and put the fire that had just ignited at the hem of his robes out with some water from his wand.  
  
I cackled with laughter, not only from the tickling charm, but from the look of terror that had just crossed Zabini's face.  
  
"Potter! Zabini! What on earth do you think you're doing? Finite Incantatum!"  
  
The tickling sensation stopped instantly, but the look on McGonagall's face didn't.  
  
"I am escorting you to Dumbledore's office immediately, there is no reason for you to be dueling in the corridors – "She went on. She said more after that, but I didn't hear her. I was fuming with rage.  
  
I walked silently behind her, throwing evil looks at Blaise every chance I could.  
  
"Sugar Quill," McGonagall said flatly to the stone gargoyle, which sprang to life and jumped aside.  
  
"Get going. I won't be going with you," she said before turning on her heel and heading back up the corridor.  
  
"After you," he said icily.  
  
"Fine," I snapped and started up the stairs, making sure to keep a safe distance in front of him.  
  
I knocked on the door at the top of the stairs and heard Dumbledore's voice.  
  
"Come in," he said. I turned the golden knob and stepped inside the office, followed closely by Zabini.  
  
"Ahh Misters Potter and Zabini, how pleasant it is to see you on this fine Monday morning," he said with a smile. "Now, why have you been sent to me looking so disheveled?"  
  
"We were dueling," I said, staring angrily at the side of Zabini's head.  
  
"Ahh, I see. Mr. Zabini, you have a detention to be served with Hagrid on Saturday evening, you may go," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Potter, you stay. What class does Mr. Malfoy have right now, do you know?  
  
"Uh, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin," I said slowly, wondering what Dumbledore was getting at.  
  
"All right, then. Thank you," Dumbledore said, scratching something on a piece of parchment. He beckoned to Fawks and tied the note to his outstretched leg.  
  
"Take that to Professor Lupin, Fawks," Dumbledore said, giving me a fair idea of what was going on.  
  
"Why do you need Draco, Professor?" I asked, looking out the window through which Fawks had just flown.  
  
"I need to talk to you. Both of you," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Malfoy will be here in a few moments, I trust..."  
  
I sat there, completely silent, for several minutes until a light knock came through the door.  
  
"Come in," Dumbledore said again.  
  
Draco pushed the door open and stepped slowly inside, looking nervous.  
  
"Welcome, Mr. Malfoy. Sit down, please," Dumbledore said politely, gesturing to the chair next to me. "As you both know, word travels like wildfire through this school. Mr. Malfoy, I assume you know about Mr. Potter's little duel earlier?"  
  
"No, actually, I didn't sir," Draco said sharply, glancing at me as if to ask who I had been dueling with.  
  
"Oh. Well, that changes things a bit. Mr. Potter dueled with Mr. Zabini in the Charms corridor a few minutes ago. I gave Mr. Zabini a detention, but kept Mr. Potter and called you here because I think I know what that duel was about.  
  
"I know about you and Draco, Mr. Potter. I know all that has gone on over the past two weeks and that neither of you have been sleeping in your dormitories.  
  
"I must impress upon you the importance of not walking around after hours. I want you both in your own beds tonight, do you understand me?" Dumbledore said, looking at me, then at Draco, then back again on alternating sentences.  
  
"How did you know, Professor?" Draco whispered, staring at his hands.  
  
"Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger came to see me with concerns on the matter last week. I've been watching you closely ever since," he answered, his blue eyes twinkling. "I don't encourage this relationship. Not that I don't want you to be happy, but look what happened to Mr. Potter this morning. I think that if you allow this relationship to continue, you will both be under more stress than you need."  
  
Pure anger boiled under my skin. Not be with Draco because of the stress? I had been under much more stress than this.  
  
"Excuse me, Professor, but I have been much worse off than I am now. At least something is making me happy," I said, folding my arms across my chest.  
  
"I am just telling you what I think, Harry. I cannot tell you and Mr. Malfoy not to be together, I can just express my opinions on the matter," he said.  
  
Draco was glaring at him. The same sort of glare he had given Zabini in the common room.  
  
"Can we go now?" I said in a hard voice.  
  
"You are dismissed," Dumbledore replied, gesturing at the door.  
  
~*~  
  
In the corridor beyond the stone gargoyle, Draco and I stopped to talk. We sat against the wall and he rested on my shoulder.  
  
"We should go to class..." I whispered, petting his back.  
  
"I know... But not yet," he said back, snuggling against me and keeping his voice low.  
  
We sat together like that until the class was over, not saying anything. When the bell rang, we stood, gave a quick kiss on the cheek, and headed for our next class, which for me, was Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
~*~  
  
In the Gryffindor Common Room that night I sat in front of the fireplace and tried to ignore the stares and comments being made by some fifth years over in the corner. I was staring absent-mindedly into the conflagration when Hermione tapped my shoulder.  
  
"Harry, we need to talk to you," she said. 


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter eight  
  
"What could you possibly want to talk to me about? Wondering why I'm here and not with Draco?" I snapped. I had had quite enough of the comments people were making.  
  
"Well, yes, it is about Malfoy – er... Draco," she said, correcting herself when I glowered at her.  
  
"What about him?" I said, staring up at her. I swear... If she says anything insulting...  
  
"Well, you lied to me and Ron about him, Harry. Obviously, we would think it's strange that you – kissed ... Malfoy – Uh, Draco – but we're your friends, Harry, you should be able to talk to us," Hermione said, a hand on Ron's arm to keep him quiet.  
  
"Hermione, honestly. You kiss your worst enemy, who is the same sex as you on top of it all, and your best friends are shocked when you don't tell them. Let's think about that for a moment, shall we?" I snapped. She was never going to understand.  
  
"Harry I know. But you lied! To me and to Ron. We know you've been sleeping in the Astronomy Tower with Draco, we've heard all the rumors. Now we want to know, from you, how much of it is true," Hermione said, tightening her grip on Ron when he opened his mouth to say something.  
  
"How much of what is true?" I said, blinking. I hadn't heard any rumors... Only what was true.  
  
"Well... I heard from some fifth year Ravenclaws yesterday that Draco takes you up there, puts the Imperious curse on you then rapes you..." Ron said, speaking for the first time in a rather dry voice.  
  
"Excuse me? You both know perfectly well that I can throw off the Imperious curse," I said, brushing the entire thing to the side.  
  
"Yes, well, that's what we thought, too. But last time it was imposter Moody putting on you...." Hermione started.  
  
"Voldemort has put it on me, too. I fought it then as well. Anything else?" I said testily.  
  
"Harry, honestly, we're just worried about you and you know it. Will you stop acting like... him and more like yourself?" Hermione said, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.  
  
"If by 'him' you mean Draco, I am not acting like him. I am acting like anyone in my position would. Will you please leave Draco out of this for five minutes?" I said the last part in a whisper. I couldn't stand to hear him insulted and dragged into conversations that way.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry..." Hermione said, her expression saying quite plainly that she didn't know what to do.  
  
A sudden thought struck me, and I had to ask her.  
  
"Hermione, how did you find out about Draco and I anyway?" I said, looking at her.  
  
"Well.... I saw you, in the corridor, when you said you were going to do Snape's essay..." She said, looking rather nervous, perhaps wondering how I'd react to knowing that she had spied on me.  
  
Quite the contrary, actually. Dawning comprehension flooded my mind as I remembered that the sound of footsteps had been why me and Draco stopped kissing when we did...  
  
"So it was you...." I said, continuing to stare blankly up at her.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Draco and I heard footsteps... It must have been you... Why did you follow me?" I was getting over the firewall that the comprehension had created in my mind and was starting to feel the anger of having been spied on.  
  
"I'm sorry, Harry.... I didn't mean to... I didn't even know you were around that corner..." Hermione said, looking genuinely sorry.  
  
Ron, who had somehow managed to keep his temper for this long, finally exploded. Not at me, but at Hermione.  
  
"What do you think you're doing? You're not going to get all snivelly and forgive him, are you? It's not even that he's with Malfoy, but it's the fact that he had to lie about it!" Ron said very loudly. Loud enough, in fact, to attract the attention of several first years, visibly terrifying them.  
  
"Ron... You don't understand," I started to say.  
  
Perhaps it was a horrible revelation for him to find out that his best friend was gay. Perhaps it was a truth that he would rather a falsehood than that his best friend was not only gay, but with both of our worst enemy. Perhaps. But that didn't excuse how he was treating me. Not by a long shot.  
  
"What's not to understand?" Ron snapped. It was now Hermione's turn to fall completely silent.  
  
"Everything," I snapped back.  
  
"I understand perfectly. You'd rather be with Drakie-poo than with us," Ron said as though it settled the matter.  
  
"Ron, that's insane. You're my best friend... Can't you just be happy for me?"  
  
"It would be a lot easier to be happy for you if we weren't constantly worrying that he's going to curse you or something..." Hermione interjected.  
  
"Hermione, for the last time, he isn't going to curse me. Ask him yourself and see what you think. He's sitting with us at dinner tonight," with that, I got up and left the common room. Dinner started in about a half an hour...  
  
~*~  
  
"Hello, Harry," Draco said, walking up behind me and massaging my shoulders for a moment before sitting down next to me. It was amazing how he could completely ignore all the stares and taunts... I wish I knew how he did it. "Hello," I said back, hugging him after he sat down. I, unlike him, felt myself blush at the looks that the simple touch earned us.  
  
"Now then. I don't think that the two of you ever properly met Draco, have you..." I said, straining the words 'properly met'.  
  
"No, I don't think we have..." Hermione said uncertainly, but extending her hand across the table to shake Draco's. Draco wrapped his free arm around my waist.  
  
"At least Hermione is making an effort at being civil..." I thought to myself as Draco shook her hand. To my surprise, he was smiling, not cringing.  
  
Ron had the ugliest look on his face that I had ever seen. He was glaring at Draco as though he were the reason that Christmas had been cancelled.  
  
"What are you staring at Weasley?" Draco said, glaring back. I felt the arm that he had around me tighten in a physical effort to restrain his temper.  
  
"Draco... Ron... Don't start," I said, giving them both a warning glance.  
  
"I won't... If he doesn't," Draco said, loosening his grip.  
  
I started to answer but Dumbledore rose to give his usual speech.  
  
"Good evening, young students of Hogwarts. Some younger than others, obviously. I just have a few reminders for you, then we can get on with the meal. First, I would like to remind you that there is to be no dueling in the corridors. Secondly, I would like to point out that the Astronomy Tower is out of bounds except for classes and you would serve yourselves to stay away from there unless you're visiting for an educational purpose. With that said, enjoy your meal." Dumbledore finished his speech and sank back into his chair, at the precise moment that food began to magically appear on trays all over the tables.  
  
My insides squirmed. I know that that speech and been directed at Draco and me... And I wasn't the only one who knew it. Blaise Zabini, for instance.  
  
"Hey, Potter, Malfoy, did you like Dumbledore's speech? I guess that means no more midnight romps in the tower for you," he sniggered from just behind us, throwing bits of food at our backs.  
  
"God damnit Zabini, stop it or I'll curse you into a million useless pieces!" Draco said after about fifteen minutes of this.  
  
"No you won't. Dumbledore just said no dueling in the corridors," Zabini said, laughing but looking scared nonetheless.  
  
"But this isn't a corridor, is it?" Draco whispered evilly and withdrawing his wand from his robes. "I don't care what you say about me, but stay away from Harry, he hasn't done anything to you."  
  
At Draco's last words Ron dropped his fork, Hermione made a strangled noise of disbelief and Zabini, who had obviously taken the hint, was gaping soundlessly. I just felt a rush of gratitude the same as the one I had felt in the Slytherin Common Room.  
  
"What?" Draco said, turning back toward Ron and Hermione and seeing the effect of his words.  
  
"Oh look... A Malfoy capable of emotion," Ron said, mimicking Draco's bored drawl.  
  
"Ron, don't!" I said, putting my fork down on my plate.  
  
"Yes, I am, does this surprise you, Weasley?" Draco whispered dangerously, wrapping a protective arm around my waist.  
  
"Yes, as a matter of fact, it does," Ron said, equal amounts of hate in his voice.  
  
"Well, that doesn't surprise me. Look at where you were raised," Draco said loftily, taking another bite of his potatoes.  
  
"Ron, Draco, STOP! You're driving me mad. It's bad enough with Zabini sitting back there throwing things at us without you two bickering like first years!" I shouted, pounding my fist angrily on the table.  
  
Hermione looked a little surprised at my outburst, but nodded fervently in agreement.  
  
"I'm sorry Harry..." they both whispered.  
  
I felt bad for yelling at Draco, but it had been called for. I wanted more than anything to hug him right then, but I couldn't. There were too many people and this was neither the time nor the place. The only thing I felt about Ron was the inclination to hit him.  
  
"Draco, I'm going to go for a walk..." I said, getting off the bench.  
  
"Shall I go with you?" he asked me, grabbing at my hand before I could walk away.  
  
"If you want..." I said slowly. I wanted to be by myself, but maybe being with Draco would help... It always had before.  
  
He smiled and stood up, nodding a goodbye to Hermione.  
  
Draco and I walked up to Gryffindor Tower, neither of us speaking until we were inside the common room.  
  
He sank down into my favorite chair in front of the fireplace and I sat on the floor in front of him, resting my head on his knee.  
  
"I'm sorry..." he whispered, his hands rubbing my shoulders.  
  
"What for?" I whispered back, moving a little.  
  
"For what I said to Ron... And about Blaise... And just everything..."  
  
I didn't know what to say to that. I just wanted to hold him.  
  
"Come on," I said, getting to my feet and lacing my fingers with his.  
  
"Where?" he asked, blinking.  
  
"Upstairs. There's no first years up there," I said, grinning. "And no Dobby, either." He snickered and got out of the chair to follow me up the steps. I pushed open to door to my dormitory and stepped inside. Draco shut the door behind us and we walked over to my four poster.  
  
Nothing was said, just his lips pressing against mine. His right hand rubbed down my back while the left traveled carefully down my chest. One of my arms was wrapped around his neck and the other hung uselessly at my side.  
  
He pulled away and gestured for me to lay down. Grinning, I pulled the blankets back and crawled underneath, waiting for him to follow. When he did, he turned me onto my back and straddled me just as I had him in the kitchens. I laughed at the memory of Dobby's squeaked protests, and Draco, perhaps reading my thoughts, laughed as well.  
  
Draco leaned down and kissed me again, his chest and stomach pressing against mine as he did. My arms wrapped around him, both my hands rubbing up and down his back. I moaned a little when his lips moved over my cheek and down to my throat, where they teased relentlessly.  
  
He stopped and pulled his own shirt off over his head, messing his brilliant blonde hair. I laughed. It was so cute to see him like that. Muscular chest and a beautiful face with his blonde hair everywhere.  
  
"What exactly do you find so funny?" He asked, trying to sound angry at my laughing, but he was laughing himself.  
  
"You," I said, grinning and running my hands over his chest.  
  
In the moment before he answered me, I felt so many things at once it made me dizzy and weak. My green eyes stared up into his gray ones, looking deeper than they ever had before. I needed his kisses but I needed to hear his voice and I couldn't have both at once. I didn't have the strength in my arms to lift them any longer and they fell, my hands resting on his thighs.  
  
"What about me?" Came his voice, breaking though my thoughts.  
  
"Your hair is messed up," I said, grinning.  
  
"Oh well," his voice came, in a whisper now.  
  
His fingers snaked under my shirt, making movements to remove it. I sat up a little and he pulled it off over my head.  
  
He leaned back down, his skin against me, his warm breath on my neck, his lips pressing to mine, his tongue teasing until I allowed him access, his tongue then massaging mine....  
  
"What the hell?" came a voice that was neither mine nor Draco's.  
  
Draco got off of me and lay down, pulling the blankets up around both me and him.  
  
"Oh... Er... Hi, Ron..." I said awkwardly  
  
Draco glared at him.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Ron snapped, glaring right back at him.  
  
"Well, we were kissing, now we're hiding from you under the blankets," Draco said. I couldn't argue with him, after all, it was true.  
  
"Well, I think I'll just leave you at it before I get sick," Ron said, looking genuinely disgusted with what he had just witnessed.  
  
"Can you lock the door behind you?" Draco asked in hopeful sarcasm. I laughed.  
  
Ron just shook his head and left, slamming the door behind him.  
  
Draco laughed and lay on his back, pulling me close and moving me so that my head was on his chest.  
  
"Comfy Harry?" He whispered, kissing the top of my head.  
  
I just nodded, my bare cheek rubbing his skin. I was suddenly very tired and just wanted to be held.  
  
"I have never been more comfortable in my entire life..." I said quietly.  
  
I draped an arm over his waist and took his hand, squeezing gently. His hand rubbed my bare back and I took a deep, shaking breath.  
  
"I feel bad... About Ron...." I said, squirming a little.  
  
"Don't be... Don't think about him right now... just rest, I can tell you're tired..." Draco whispered soothingly, petting my skin.  
  
"Okay..." I said, closing my eyes. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine  
  
After waking up in Draco's arms in the exact same position we had fallen asleep in, I felt more rested and relaxed than I had in my entire life. His skin was warm against my cheek and his fingers were stroking my side.  
  
"Good morning, love," Draco whispered when I woke up and looked at him.  
  
Again, we were interrupted by Ron stirring in the next bed  
  
"Harry, if you've got a minute, I'd like to remind you that we've got Qudditch practice tonight for that match against Slytherin on Saturday," he said.  
  
~*~  
  
Twenty minutes before we were to play, Draco walked up behind me in the changing room and hugged me around my waist.  
  
"Harry, I can't play against you..." he whispered, leaving kisses across my shoulder.  
  
"Draco, we don't have much choice," I said, rubbing his back and laughing a little.  
  
"I'm captain of the Slytherin team, I can do whatever I like," he said indignantly.  
  
"Draco, honestly, we have to play. You know as well as I do that you do. Besides, I want to play. Promise you'll play like it's a regular game and don't go easy on us?" I asked him, tipping his chin up with my fingertips.  
  
"Well I..." he sighed and hugged me tighter.  
  
"And if Crabbe hits a bludger at me, don't call a time out and beat him up, okay?" I said. I was trying to make light of the situation, but I didn't want to play against him, either.  
  
"I – but – I ... Okay, I promise," Draco spluttered, plainly arguing with himself.  
  
It had always surprised me how protective and loving Draco was. In seven years of knowing him, Draco had always seemed mean and without a heart or a capability of human emotion, but now he was.... Much nicer than he had been before... I smiled and kissed him lightly on his lips for good luck in the match.  
  
"Will you two please stop snogging long enough to play the match?" Ron remarked sarcastically as he walked by us, tying up the front of his scarlet robes.  
  
"Ron, are you ever going to just accept it?" I asked him, my arms, that were loosely wrapped loosely around Draco, tightened defensively.  
  
"Not likely. Now let's go," Ron snapped and grabbed his broom.  
  
"Good luck, Draco," I said, grinning and kissing him on the cheek.  
  
"You too," he said back, returning the grin.  
  
~*~  
  
"Welcome, Hogwarts students, to this weeks game of Qudditch. This is definitely promising to be an interesting one, given the players – er – personal – relationships. Anyway, Gryffindor versus Slytherin," said the announcer, Seamus Finnegan. Seamus never had been too pleased about me and Draco and he hadn't really liked me much anyway since fifth year. "Captains Weasley and Malfoy are shaking hands, players taking their positions, the whistle, and the quaffle is up! Chaser Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor passing to Liza Chang. Chang is the second her in family to play for Hogwarts, the first being her sister, Cho Chang, who graduated last year –"  
  
"Finnegan, shut up and call the match!" McGonagall said.  
  
"Sorry professor, just thought the fans might like to know that Liza is in Gryffindor while her sister was in Raven –"  
  
"JUST CALL THE MATCH!"  
  
I laughed a little as I circled the stadium. The constant battling between whoever the announcer was and Professor McGonagall would never change. Draco and I passed each other as we circled, continuing our relentless search for the snitch, without even looking at one another. He was definitely doing as I'd asked him to in not allowing our relationship to distract him.  
  
"What's this? Malfoy and Potter passing each other without stopping to give each other CPR? I am truly amazed," Seamus' sarcastic remark rang through the pitch and I had an unpleasant feeling we were going to be hearing more.  
  
"Seamus, you are in Gryffindor yourself, so I suggest that you don't take cheap shots at the Gryffindor players. Would you kindly call the match and not worry about the goings on of Potter and Malfoy off the pitch?"  
  
I was thankful for Professor McGonagall's temper just then, but not quite as thankful as I was for it to be a sunny day. Surprisingly warm for it to be the third weekend of January.  
  
"Sorry Professor. Malfoy and Potter of Slytherin and Gryffindor are continuing their search for the snitch, obviously to no avail. Meanwhile, Weasley passes to Chang, who passes to Harlan. Harlan, second year, amazing chaser," Seamus said, finally keeping to his commentary.  
  
"First generation Quidditch player, muggle-born, actually. Not that it matters, talent is talent. GRYFFINDOR SCORES! Chang ducks Slytherin Chaser Leer and puts it past Zabini! Bad luck Blaise," Seamus continued as Blaise glared at Liza. I snickered.  
  
Draco passed me at that moment, he was also laughing at Blaise.  
  
"– WEASLEY SCORES 20-nothing to Gryffindor! – "  
  
I groaned. I just wanted this game to be over. Draco took off to the other side of the pitch at a very high speed to start his search again.  
  
"Leer scores! 20-10 to Gryffindor! – "  
  
I circled around the goal posts at Blaise's end of the field and he gave me a very dirty look. I passed close to the post and turned to look at him, staying still for a moment too long.  
  
SLAM  
  
"Damnit!" I swore loudly, causing Zabini and a couple of the chasers to look at me. I fell about 20 feet and hit the ground hard, making whatever had just happened worse.  
  
The searing pain in the center of my back and my left shoulder hurt so badly my eyes were starting to water. That was the last thing I remember before passing out from the pain.  
  
~*~  
  
"Is he going to be ok?"  
  
The voice was Hermione's, but the hand on my left arm that was just making the pain worse, wasn't.  
  
"He will be, but he needs to wake up so that I can heal his shoulder and that bruising on his back," Madame Promfrey said.  
  
I moaned in pain. The sensation in my shoulder was enough to make me lose consciousness again. I opened my eyes and saw that the hand on my forearm belonged to Draco and Ron was standing opposite him, glaring as though it were his fault.  
  
"What happened?" I asked, reaching over and pushing Draco's hand away. "I'm sorry, but that hurts..." I explained when a hurt expression crossed his pale features.  
  
"Goyle hit you in the back with a bludger, then you slammed forward into the Slytherin goal. Separated your shoulder and have one hell of a bruise on your back. Other than that, nothing," Ron said.  
  
"Draco, you won then," I said, grinning. I wasn't altogether sure how I should feel about this, but I was happy for him.  
  
"Well.... Actually, I forfeit," Draco whispered. "I forfeit with I saw that you were hurt so that the game would end and you could get to the hospital wing."  
  
That was quite possibly the sweetest thing that anyone had done for me, but Ron apparently didn't see it that way. He didn't say anything, just glared at Draco.  
  
I didn't see what he was so angry about, sure we lost, but so did Slytherin. And really, Draco did it for me... Ron didn't want me to be hurt, did he?  
  
"Ahh good, he's awake," Madame Pomfrey said, walking over and shoving Draco unceremoniously out of her way.  
  
Draco had a severely annoyed look on his face, but looked much happier when she healed my shoulder with a sharp jab from her wand.  
  
"Turn over so I can do something about that horrible bruise on your back, Potter," she said as I turned onto my right side.  
  
Again, she healed with her wand, then leaving me with Draco and Ron, and soon after, Hermione.  
  
"Harry, turn over on your stomach again?" Draco asked me in a whisper so that Ron wouldn't hear him. He was sitting on the bed opposite glaring at Draco and conversing in low tones with Hermione.  
  
I turned and buried my face in the pillow. The beds in the infirmary were never comfortable and my back was still sore, but I did it anyway. It was definitely worth it when he started to rub, first at my shoulders, then down to just above where the bludger had hit me.  
  
"Will you two please wait until I leave to start getting all touchy-feely?" Ron asked in an exasperated voice.  
  
"Ron, he's just rubbing my back. I was just injured in a Quidditch match, can you please at least act like you care?" I said in a tone that quite plainly said that I didn't want or need his sympathy. I just wanted my best friend back.  
  
"Well excuse me if it's a little hard for me to watch my best friend be felt up by my worst enemy," Ron said flatly and crossed his arms.  
  
"Well if you knew how good he was to feel up you'd do it too," Draco said, laughing lightly and earning himself another angry stare from Ron.  
  
I laughed and relaxed under his touch. He was very good at this...  
  
"Malfoy can you please – "Ron started.  
  
"Ron stop it, look at them, they're happy..." Hermione said, grabbing his wrist to shut him up.  
  
I laughed at Ron, who was opening and closing his mouth helplessly as Hermione glared at him. She, at least, had accepted Draco and I.  
  
I turned back onto my side so that Draco had to stop rubbing. I didn't want him to stop, but I wanted him to lay with me so I could sleep.  
  
He took the hint and got under the blankets with me and held me close. I was wrong... These beds could be comfortable.  
  
"Must you do that?" Ron said, his tone much less scathing than usual.  
  
"It's comfortable Ron..." I said against Draco's chest, starting to fall asleep already.  
  
"Yes, but I really don't want to see this..." Ron said.  
  
"If you don't like it, don't look. I happen to love it," Draco said, rubbing my back with the palm of his hand.  
  
I nodded in agreement and pressed myself a little closer against Draco's left side, then reaching over him and taking his right hand. He stopped rubbing my back just long enough to tuck the blankets up around us a little better.  
  
"No. I am not going to leave Harry alone in the hospital," Draco continued to argue. I felt more and more grateful for him every second.  
  
"Please let him stay?" I whispered, giving her an imploring glance.  
  
"No. You're hurt and you need rest and a bed to yourself," she said firmly.  
  
"No, I need Draco," I said, hugging him tightly and with no intention of letting him go.  
  
Ron and Hermione gaped at me. The last time they had heard me speak to an adult that way it had been to Professor Umbridge.  
  
"I'm calling Dumbledore," she said, walking over to the fire place, grabbing a fistful of Floo Powder and throwing it in.  
  
"Professor, I need to speak with you about an unruly student," she shouted into it.  
  
Within seconds Professor Dumbledore had emerged from the fire and brushed the ashes from his blue robes.  
  
"Yes, Poppy?" he said, smiling pleasantly.  
  
"Can you please remove Mr. Malfoy from the infirmary? He is not allowed to be in Potter's bed, and look at him."  
  
"He doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong. Harry and Draco both look very comfortable. Are you both comfortable, boys?" Dumbledore asked us.  
  
"Yes, we are," Draco answered for me, leaning down and kissing my hair as I nodded my agreement.  
  
"Well, there you have it Poppy. Mr. Malfoy may stay where he is until Harry's release from the infirmary tomorrow morning," Dumbledore said.  
  
He nodded at Ron and Hermione, then left through the infirmary doors.  
  
I smiled. Draco could stay!  
  
"My Draco..."I mumbled quietly against his chest in a barely audible tone.  
  
"Mmhmm," Draco murmured, hugging me close and continuing to rub my back. I wasn't even sure he'd heard me. 


	10. Chapter Ten

The next month or so was fairly uneventful, save for the stream of comments that usually followed Draco and I wherever we went, usually Blaise Zabini or his newly acquired cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, were to blame. Needless to say, Draco was having some trouble adjusting to the fact that he didn't have cronies, or many friends for that matter, anymore.  
  
"Urgh... This is insane! I am a Malfoy, I cannot go through my entire life having to do everything for myself!" Draco said, halfway through a Transfiguration essay on Animagi.  
  
"Draco, if you were going to do everything by the Malfoy Code Of Honor, you wouldn't have been kissing me how you were last night..." I said, grinning and touching his hand with mine.  
  
I was very thankful that Ron wasn't there; I had a feeling kisses were soon to follow. I wasn't entirely wrong, he stood up and started rubbing my shoulders in a gentle circular pattern. He really was amazing at this, it's how he put me to sleep at night. I tipped my head back against his stomach and he trailed his hands down my chest. I squirmed when it tickled, but he didn't stop until I stood up.  
  
I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed across his collar bone. It was amazing how easily he could distract me from whatever I was doing simply with the promise of kisses. I teased his neck with my tongue, not stopping until he pulled away.  
  
He brushed his fingers though my hair and off my face, then leaning in and kissing my forehead. He stopped and looked at me after a moment, his fingers tracing over my scar.  
  
"Do you remember it, Harry?" he whispered, his face just inches from mine.  
  
"Remember... What?" I said, my eyes opening fully and staring into his.  
  
"When you got this scar," he said.  
  
"Draco, we've been over this, I can't tell you. It's too difficult..."  
  
"You know you can trust me," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. He pulled me closer to him and kissed my cheek.  
  
"I know..." I said, leaning on him and letting him hold me.  
  
"So, will you tell me? About Voldemort?" he asked, running his fingers down my spine and whispering the words in my ear.  
  
I pulled away from him, glaring. I shouldn't get mad at him, he's curious... Who wouldn't be? I had killed the man that had been wreaking havoc in Britain and other parts of the world for decades. But I still didn't feel right telling him... I couldn't tell him. It would bring back too many memories. The very memories that had taken me over a year to suppress. Memories that would continue to haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. No... I can't tell him... Not yet... Maybe.... Someday....  
  
"Draco, I can't... I really can't. It's not that I don't want to, but the memories of it... Are too horrible..." I said, shivering as a vision of Voldemort as he uttered his last words to me: "You will pay, Potter, you will pay..."  
  
"Do you trust me?" he said, stepping back from me.  
  
"Yes, of course I do!"  
  
"Then why won't you tell me? I deserve to know what my father was in with!" he said. I could tell he was starting to get angry...  
  
"It's painful for me to remember... You don't understand," I said, my voice failing me.  
  
"Harry, I need to know. Don't you think I deserve to know what my Father was in with?" Draco said, a slight hint of urgency in his voice.  
  
"Draco, no! I can't! I'm sorry..." I said. It was breaking my heart that he didn't understand enough to not press me... But how could he know better? To him it would probably just seem like some grand adventure.  
  
"But it's my Father, and all of my family! I told you about my aunt, Bellatrix, remember? Don't I deserve to know what was going on?" Draco asked, anger mingling with desperation in his voice.  
  
"Yes, you do... But I'm not the proper person to tell you," I whispered. I heard the anger that was now lacing itself through his words and it scared me. He hadn't said anything to me in that tone of voice since.... December, and it was February now, and the circumstances of our relationship are much different than they were....  
  
"But I think you are the proper person... We can talk about anything... Anything except this, right? The reason why you have a hard time trusting anyone, the reason why you wake up in a cold sweat every other night because you've had a nightmare about him... We can talk about anything... But that..." Draco said in an obviously hurt voice.  
  
"You know I'd tell if I could... It's just too much to deal with," I whispered, making a move to hug him, but he stepped away.  
  
"You don't trust me," he said, his voice rising dangerously now.  
  
"Don't yell at me! You just don't understand it!" I yelled back. I was suddenly more hurt than angry... He wouldn't let me hold him... For the first time in months he'd stepped away from me.  
  
"I'd understand it if you trusted me enough to tell me!" he shouted, a flush creeping across his flawless cheeks.  
  
"Will you stop yelling? You've got no reason to yell at me! You never had to fight him, you have never almost been killed by him! If you saw your godfather die I don't think you'd want to talk about it either! Oh wait, I forgot, it was your aunt that killed him!" I said, my voice rising steadily.  
  
"Don't bring my family into this. Need I remind you that if it weren't for your godfather that your parents would still be alive?" Draco spat in a nasty tone.  
  
"That's not true! It wasn't him that sold them out!"  
  
"Who was it then? Or did they just drop dead of their own accord?" he said lightly, checking his nails in a very sarcastic way.  
  
"Damnit Draco, you don't understand! Professor Lupin – "  
  
"Yeah, I know who Lupin is. He's our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the one with no money and even less dress sense."  
  
"– and I exposed the truth in third year. If you paid attention to your surroundings and not just your hair you might have known that, Draco," I snapped, still fuming from the dig at my parents.  
  
He glared at me for a moment before answering.  
  
"Watch your step, Potter, and be careful who you insult. You remember who my father is, correct?" Draco said. I saw a lot of his old self returning to him... He had changed so much over the past couple of months, and here it was all melting away...  
  
"Of course I know who your father is, Malfoy, I put him in Azkaban. Twice. Or did you forget that?" I said, a sneer playing on my face.  
  
"Would I be correct in assuming that your precious Sirius was also in Azkaban?" Draco said, his voice rising about normal again.  
  
"Leave Sirius out of this! One more word about him and I swear I'll – "I didn't get to say exactly what I'd do as Ron, followed close by Hermione, burst through the door.  
  
"What the hell is going on up here? You could hear the shouting down in the common room!" Ron said, looking from me to Draco and back again, taking in the sight of the anger on our flushed faces.  
  
"And here comes Potter's sidekicks. What would you do without them?" Draco said in his old bored drawl.  
  
With that, he pushed past Hermione and stepped out the door, leaving his books on my desk.  
  
I was in complete shock, although I tried to keep it off my face. He had just... left.  
  
"Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked, walking over and hugging me. I was thankful for the contact but I didn't want to hug her... She needed to be Draco... "Yes, I'm fine..." I lied as I pulled away from her. Ugh... I didn't want anyone to touch me.  
  
~*~  
  
I spent the rest of the day sitting in a chair in front of the fire, staring but seeing nothing. Everything seemed to have just completely faded away into nothing. I was angry with him, yes, but not angry enough to leave him... I knew better than to blame him for what he said, he didn't know what he was talking about. It had definitely been a shock to see him go back to his old self so quickly. He had changed so much... Into someone who was... Pleasant to be around, but now he seemed just as he had been before; someone I would rather not be around at all. This is what made this so bad, I didn't want to be around him, but I couldn't not be around him, either. I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep at all tonight.  
  
I stood up and said my goodnight's to Ron and Hermione before ascending the stairs to the dormitory. I slowly undressed and pulled my pajamas on, then slid under the covers of my four poster and pulled the hangings shut. I stared, completely void of all emotion, at the ceiling until I heard the others some up to bed. The sounds of them dressing for bed brought me back to reality enough to realize exactly how long this night was going to be.  
  
IHe hates me.../I  
  
That was all I could think of for the next... What seemed like forever. I had finally managed to stop thinking about the argument, but now I was thinking about all the happy moments... and that was, in a way, worse.  
  
I don't know exactly when the tears started, but they did. I only became aware of it when I sobbed loudly.  
  
IShut up./I  
  
I knew I had to be quiet... they'd hear me if I wasn't, and I didn't want them to hear me. I buried my face in my pillow to muffle my sobs; I couldn't stop them from coming now...  
  
I thought about the last two months and how happy they had been, aside from the taunts in the corridors. I remembered how Draco had been...  
  
I"Potter, will you slow down, I just want to talk to you!" "Talk, or curse, Draco?" "Talk. Just talk, Potter – Er, Harry,"  
  
"Potter... Harry? What's it like?" "What's what like?" I asked, even though I had a feeling what. "Being you. Defeating the Dark Lord... The Boy Who Lived..."  
  
"I haven't finished that essay yet! Can I hand it in tomorrow?"/I  
  
Then there was how beautiful he looked in the moonlight as it streamed through the window... I had always loved walking with him at night because of how the moon seemed to bathe him in a silvery light. His eyes seemed more blue than gray now, only gray when he was angry... They were a soft watery blue the rest of the time... I loved his eyes... so easy to get lost in...  
  
I need him. I can't sleep without him. I'd manage to drift off, but then I'd wake up and reach for him and all the pain would come back when he wasn't there. Each time would start a fresh wave of tears that were silenced by my pillows and my unwillingness to breath until it passed.  
  
~*~  
  
I didn't see Draco outside of classes at all over the next three days except when I thrust the books that he had left in my room into his arms before walking away. I didn't even look at his face. I couldn't look at him. It hurt too much.  
  
I saw him in Potions class once; he didn't look at me at all... But I couldn't take my eyes off him. I guess the old saying 'you never know how much you love something until you don't have it anymore' is true.  
  
~*~  
  
Blaise Zabini, of course, thought all of this was very amusing and took every opportunity to taunt me. I notice he never said anything about Draco, unless you want to count "So Malfoy finally came to his senses and dropped the Gryffindork, huh?" every time I was within earshot.  
  
"So, Potter, is it nice to have a bed all to yourself again?" he said one on Wednesday after Transfiguration.  
  
I glared at him. What in the name of Merlin did he expect me to say to that? Hmm, let's go over the options, shall we?  
  
I could say 'yes' and have Draco, who was standing about ten feet away, think that I don't miss him at all, or I could say 'no' and have them all think that I was a sniveling little child who needed someone there to baby- sit him at all hours.  
  
"I don't think that's any of your business, Zabini," I said as calmly as I could manage. I wanted more than anything to hit him, to tell him that I missed Draco and he had no right or reason to make any sort of comment... But I didn't. I couldn't. I just walked away to my next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
~*~  
  
"It's well into February now and as you know, you take your N.E.W.T exams in April, so we had better get moving on your knowledge of curses. I know that with "Moody" you did some with the Unforgivables, but we are going to go more in depth into the study of jinxes, hexes, counterjinxes, charms and curses," Professor Lupin said over the chatter in the room.  
  
There was a slight murmuring in the room as people remembered Alastor Moody who had, in fact, been Barty Crouch, Jr., a Death Eater who had nearly been responsible for my death.  
  
"We'll start with smaller jinxes, like Jelly Legs and the Four Point charm, simple things. Yes, I know you've probably gone over these in your Charms class, but here you'll actually get to use them on each other," Lu[in continued as the class started to quiet down.  
  
I already knew how to work both the spells he just mentioned and he knew it. I had learned them in fourth year while training for the Triwizard Tournament. I could do a lot of spells then that I probably shouldn't be able to do now.  
  
"Harry, would you come demonstrate a Stunner? I know you can do it," Lupin said, snapping me out of my day dreams.  
  
"Oh, um, all right..." I said. What else was there to say? Besides, there weren't any taunting Slytherins in here.  
  
I got up and stood next to Lupin, waiting for further instruction.  
  
"Who'd you want me to Stun, Professor?"  
  
He had me stun Ron, Hermione, Seamus, and two of the Ravenclaws before he was satisfied.  
  
"See, that is how you can stop your opposition without actually hurting them. Not the choice of some wizards, but is nevertheless effective," Lupin said happily.  
  
~*~  
  
"Not hurt them my ass," Ron said, rubbing his lower back.  
  
"I'm sorry," I said halfheartedly. It was hardly my fault that it hurts when you fall over.  
  
I really wasn't in the mood for conversation, and this time Ron and Hermione knew exactly why that was and were trying to cheer me up. Needless to say, it was to absolutely no avail.  
  
~*~  
  
Later that evening when I probably should have been eating dinner, I sat by the lake throwing stones into the water.  
  
"He hates me..." I whispered and I threw a rather large stone with all my strength .  
  
"I don't hate you," said a voice coming from somewhere behind me.  
  
I jumped in surprise. Partly because he had snuck up on me and partly because he was talking to me at all.  
  
"I think you should read this," Draco said, coming and sitting next to me in the sand.  
  
He handed me a piece of parchment with what looked like Ron's handwriting on it.  
  
IMalfoy,  
  
I don't know what happened with you and Harry, but whatever it is it's hurting him. I've seen him in all kinds of pain, but never like this. He's the Golden Boy who can take anything, correct? If that's so, how come he's been crying himself to sleep every night? He tries to hide it, but I can hear him. Even if I couldn't hear him, his eyes are all red by morning. He puts it down to not sleeping well, but I know better. Like I said, I hear him. Whatever, I can't change your mind or make you see what it's doing to him, but I had to tell you this much.  
  
-Ron Weasley/I  
  
I couldn't say anything. Ron, who had always seemed against my relationship with Draco, had written him a letter telling him how upset I was. Now it seemed like Ron was... Trying to get him to do something...  
  
"Interesting," he whispered, moving a little closer but still not touching me. "Very interesting. I didn't know it would affect you that badly... I just assumed you'd get over it after I left... I suppose not."  
  
I nodded, wishing that he'd just wrap one of his arms around me. I couldn't stand to be that close to him without us touching in some way.  
  
It was like he could read my mind. He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me close to him.  
  
"I'm sorry..." I whispered against his chest, thankful that he was holding me.  
  
"You have nothing to be sorry for," he said, rubbing his hand up my back. ~*~  
  
We had an unspoken agreement to not mention the argument we had or it's after effects. He stayed in Gryffindor Tower with me that night and held me like he had before, with me curled up next to him and my head on his chest. He kissed the top my head and rubbed circles on my back until I fell asleep. It was warm and comfortable and for the first time that week I was able to sleep. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Days passed, March and April came and went uneventfully, and Draco and I didn't fight anymore. Blaise Zabini had even backed off a little, although he did tend to lurk in the shadows when Draco and I walked past.  
  
Classes were harder than ever and teachers saw it fit to weigh us down with so much homework that finishing it all seemed impossible.  
  
Draco and I were walking from our Potions class and to my next one, Divination. He couldn't walk all the way up to the class with me as it was seven floors up, but he kissed me goodbye at the bottom of the steps.  
  
Ron caught up with me halfway up the steps, a scowl on his face.  
  
"Was Malfoy up here?" He said.  
  
Ron still wasn't amused by the fact that Draco and I were spending every free moment together, but was even less amused that Slytherin was going ahead in the Quidditch Cup while Gryffindor wasn't.  
  
"Yes, Ron, he was. I thought you two were getting along better now," I said, disgust coating my voice. I was getting awfully sick of the constant bickering that had started between Draco and Ron and Hermione.  
  
"We are. Comparatively speaking anyway. I got you two back together because you were both obviously miserable. I'm sorry, but I still find all of this a little... strange.." Ron said.  
  
"I see," I said tonelessly. I understood where he was coming from, but I still didn't like it.  
  
Ron changed the subject quickly. This conversation always lead to tetchy waters.  
  
"I wonder what Trelawney's got for us today. If I have to read one more cup of tea leaves, I am going to drown her in it," Ron said, a forced grin plastered on his face.  
  
~*~  
  
Thankfully for Ron we didn't have to read anymore tealeaves, but were starting on the study of prophecies.  
  
"As you know, I am a Seer and I possess the Divine capability to make prophecies, See the future and predict people's fortunes. It is a Gift that is rare, but yet present in human people. This term, your final one at Hogwarts, will be the final determination of whether or not you possess the Gift of Second Sight," Professor Trelawney said in her misty voice.  
  
That was the last she said directly to the class that period, she just let us read though our books to read up on prophecies.  
  
"This is ridiculous. I already know that I can't See. What's the point?" Ron said, thumbing through his copy of "Unfogging the Future"  
  
I mumbled a reply to him. I knew perfectly well that I couldn't See either, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the connection I'd had to Lord Voldemort that caused me to see what he was doing and feel what he was feeling through strange emotional waves and dreams.  
  
"Haha Harry, it says that muggle Seers don't even know that they're Seers and just go though life thinking they're mad or something!" Ron laughed gleefully, pointing at the paragraph on the page that indicated this.  
  
"Or they think they're psychic," I said absently.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind," I said, flipping through the book and ignoring Professor Trelawney asking Lavender to try and See what Parvati's future had in store for her.  
  
~*~  
  
"Wow, that lesson was... Less than interesting," Ron said, stuffing his book back into his bag at the bottom of the ladder and starting down the stairs.  
  
"Yeah, it was. Ron, I left my book on the table and I need to go get it, I'll be right back," I said, inwardly shuddering at the prospect of going back into the heavily perfumed room so quickly after leaving it.  
  
"All right, I'll see you at lunch," he said, and started down the stairs.  
  
I sighed deeply and started up the ladder again where Professor Trelawney ignored me; she just sat, staring avidly into space. I crossed to the table I had been sitting at and picked up my book, then made a move to leave.  
  
"A boy with no father to speak of is in grave danger – "Came Trelawney's voice, although it was not as misty as usual. Indeed, it was gravelly and hoarse.  
  
"Before the next phase of the moon passes a boy of 17 years who is without a father will come to be in grave danger from the Dark One. The Dark Lord and his Minions of Darkness will take the boy to a place familiar to his kin. The place will be a warm one with a heavy depression hanging over it; one of death and destruction. The boy will be lured to this place by one he once considered his best friend. He is.. Not... Safe... Danger... The Dark... One..."  
  
Her head dropped to her chest and she stayed completely still for perhaps a full thirty seconds. Only on one occasion had she gone into such a state, and that prediction had been true.  
  
"Um, Professor?" I said tentatively, prodding her forearm gently.  
  
Her head rose back to his full and upright position on her shoulders and she stared blankly at me; her eyes didn't look quite as much like an insect's as usual.  
  
"Yes, Mr. Potter?" She said, looking as though nothing had happened and she was quite obviously wondering why I was still in her classroom.  
  
"You just told me that 'a boy with no father' is in danger from Lord Voldemort. That's not possible, he's dead," I said, my voice surprisingly toneless.  
  
"Yes, I know that Potter. Now run along to lunch. It's a rather warm day and you should be outside," Trelawney said, frowning at me and shooing me out of the classroom.  
  
~*~  
  
"Where's Malfoy?" Ron asked when I joined him a few minutes later in the Great Hall.  
  
I sighed inwardly when Ron said 'Malfoy', wanting more than anything to say that his name is Draco. But I didn't. I knew that some things would never change and Ron calling Draco 'Malfoy' is one of them.  
  
"Probably in the library working on that paper for Lupin. The one on Dementors," I said absently, my mind still on Trelawney and what she had said.  
  
"Oh," Ron said, stuffing a forkful of something in his mouth.  
  
"I'm going to go," I said, suddenly not hungry. "I'm going to go see if Draco is in the library."  
  
~*~  
  
I walked from the Great Hall to the library in about twenty minutes, the whole way spent replaying Trelawney's words in my head.  
  
"A boy with no father to speak of"  
  
Voldemort is dead. He is. I killed him; I watched myself do it.  
  
With that, I told myself that Professor Sybil Trelawney was, as usual, full of shit, and put the entire thing from my mind. My mind drifted to Ron and Draco and their constant squabbling. Ron had asked me that morning why Draco just had to sleep in our dormitory every night. He had been, to say the least, very annoyed when I told him that he slept with me because he wasn't exactly welcome in the Slytherin dormitories anymore.  
  
"Hey," I whispered, shortly after entering the library and coming upon Draco alone at a table, completely surrounded by books.  
  
"Hey," he replied, closing the book he was digging through and pulling me into his lap.  
  
"I missed you at lunch," I said, nuzzling at this cheek.  
  
"I have to get this essay done and I've been coughing all day," he said bitterly, glaring at the stack of books on the table and stifling a cough.  
  
I frowned at him and stood up. I started to gather his things and put them back into his school bag.  
  
"Let's go back up to Gryffindor Tower and you can sleep, okay?" I whispered, careful to keep my voice low because Madame Pince would be less- than-pleased otherwise.  
  
"We have Potions this afternoon. Snape won't like it if we're not there," he said hesitantly.  
  
"Snape doesn't like us anyway."  
  
Draco laughed at this and nodded his consent.  
  
"Okay. I'm not feeling well and sleep might do me some good..." he said, getting to his feet.  
  
~*~  
  
Draco and I both reduced ourselves to our boxers and crawled back into bed a short while later.  
  
"Come here," I whispered, pulling him close and shifting him so his head was on my chest. I registered in my mind that this was probably this first time that we had laid like this; it was usually vice versa.  
  
He coughed again and his face felt warm on my skin.  
  
"I am never going to get that essay done..." He mumbled. "Bloody dementors..."  
  
"Dementors are awful," I said, petting his back absentmindedly.  
  
"Do you really hear your mother when you're close to one?" He asked in a voice that suggested that he knew I would probably snap at him for asking about it.  
  
I sighed, knowing that it was time to tell him everything.  
  
"Yes. It's terrible. Scary as hell..." I started, hugging him tighter.  
  
"Can you tell me?"  
  
"Yes..." I said.  
  
I fell silent for a time, wondering where I could even begin. My childhood? No. I know Lucius Malfoy and Draco's childhood couldn't possibly have been better. The dementors? Not much to tell, really. At least no way to describe it. Voldemort? But what about him. Again, so much to tell, no way to tell it.  
  
I bought myself some time by sitting up and slowly closing the hangings on my bed, shielding us even more from the midday light that was coming through the window.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"Hmm? I'm sorry, just thinking about where to start," I said, grinning apologetically.  
  
He nodded and pulled me back down, snuggling close so that I couldn't move again.  
  
"I didn't even know I was a wizard until my 11th birthday," I started slowly, staring at the scarlet hangings.  
  
"We started getting funny letters with the post and my uncle always took them away, saying it was a mistake. But then, two days before my birthday, hundreds of them started shooting out of the fireplace and into the living room," I went on, dragging my eyes back to Draco, who was looking mildly amused at this.  
  
"Uncle Vernon went completely mad and gave us five minutes to pack. Then he ripped the door open, stuffed all four of us in the car and drove, changing directions every little way, each time muttering something like 'shake 'em off'. We went to a hotel and while we were eating dinner that evening the desk clerk brought a stack of about a hundred letters, that Uncle Vernon tore up," I said, laughing at the expression on Draco's face. He looked like he'd love to laugh, but was trying desperately not to.  
  
"So, we rented a boat and spent the next night in a cabin on a rock in the middle of the ocean. It was a cold little two room shack with the most pitiful furniture I've ever seen in my life. Not that I'd know if it were comfortable or not, I had to sleep on the floor," I said, now grinning myself.  
  
"Then Hagrid showed up, scared my aunt, uncle and cousin to death, then took me away to Diagon Alley to get my school things. That's when I met you for the first time," I said, smiling and kissing his forehead possessively, remembering how much we'd hated each other then.  
  
"Yes, I remember. I'm sorry I was so mean to you," he said, looking genuinely upset.  
  
"Don't be. It was a long time ago," I whispered, hugging him tighter and then continuing.  
  
"Then weird stuff started happening after I started Hogwarts and I ended up killing Professor Quirrel... But I saved the Sorcerer's Stone and prevented Voldemort returning for another year," I said, then pausing for his reaction. He made a surprised face; clearly this was an entirely different story from everything that had been told to him by other people.  
  
"And then in second year, you know, the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' thing. That was your Father's fault, I'm sorry to say. If he hadn't slipped that diary to Ginny Weasley in Flourish and Blotts, none of that would have happened," I said slowly, wincing at the look on Draco's face when I mentioned his father's role in the events of five years ago.  
  
"I'm sorry, love, but it's true," I added, pulling him closer to me.  
  
"I know. He told me that he did it that summer when I asked him why Dobby wasn't doing the wash," Draco said, frowning slightly.  
  
I laughed a little and inhaled deeply before continuing.  
  
I told him about third year in a little more detail. I explained about the Time Turner, mentally noting that Hermione would curse me into oblivion if she knew that I'd told him.  
  
"Then in fourth year, in the maze, Cedric Diggory and I were transported to a graveyard where Voldemort and his Death Eaters, your father included, were waiting for us. They killed Cedric right off, but they needed my blood, otherwise I would have died, too. Once Wormtail preformed the spell that returned Voldemort to his body, we dueled. Our wands did something funny, Priori Incantatum, the reverse spell effect," I said, and Draco's jaw dropped.  
  
"I've heard of that... It only happens when wands with cores from the same creature..." Draco said, comprehension dawning on his face.  
  
"Yes, my wand core and Voldemort's both come from the same Phoenix. Fawkes..." I confessed, my insides squirming.  
  
"Can you tell me about when you... Defeated him?" Draco asked me, tracing circles around my navel with his fingernail. "Yes... That was probably the scariest night of my life," I breathed. I didn't know if I were grateful for someone to talk to about it or wary of what could become of telling.  
  
"I'd said something to you... Told you that I'd kill you for putting my father in Azkaban..." Draco whispered, turning his head just enough to kiss my stomach in way of an unnecessary apology.  
  
"Don't even think about it anymore. It was over a year ago," I whispered, dragging my fingers up and down his spine.  
  
"I couldn't use my own wand because of the reverse spell effect... So, I summoned one of the Death Eater's wands, Nott, I think, and used that..." I broke off there, convulsions spreading through my body as the memories of that night came back all at once.  
  
"Okay, you don't have to say anymore..." Draco whispered, sitting up a bit and kissing my cheek.  
  
I nodded and tilted his head up with my fingertips so that I could kiss his lips.  
  
"You're pale... You don't look well," I observed in a low voice before adjusting our position so that he was laying down again. "Go to sleep."  
  
He nodded and nuzzled closer, his eyes closing as he inhaled deeply.  
  
I held him and let him sleep, just feeling him breathe for hours, until Ron burst into the room, demanding to know where I'd been all afternoon. I frowned when Ron woke Draco up with his shouting, but told him what he'd asked.  
  
"Draco isn't feeling well, so I wanted him to sleep," I said shortly, rocking Draco gently in hopes that he'd fall asleep again.  
  
"So you skipped class? Why couldn't he just come sleep? Snape was really angry; he took 50 points from each Slytherin and Gryffindor!" Ron shouted, causing Draco to whimper and pull the blankets over his head. He always had been cute when he was half asleep.  
  
"Ron, just go so Draco can sleep. He's been coughing all day and I think he's got a fever," I said, glaring angrily at Ron for shouting.  
  
"This isn't even his dormitory! Why doesn't he go sleep somewhere else!" Ron snapped, throwing his bag onto his bed.  
  
"Because he's got no where else to go, Ron," I said, trying to keep my voice level so as not to disrupt Draco any more than necessary.  
  
"Fine, I'll go. Hermione and I have plans tonight anyway," Ron snapped and, glaring at lump under the blanket that was Draco, left the room.  
  
"He's noisy," Draco said absently, clawing the blankets off his face and looking up at me.  
  
"Yes, I know love, I'm sorry," I said, tucking the blankets more comfortably around him.  
  
"It's okay..." he said, closing his eyes slowly and pressing his entire body against me.  
  
I sighed comfortably and settled myself back into the pillows.  
  
"I'm cold," he complained after a few minutes, his words interrupted by a cough.  
  
I pulled away from him and picked his robes up off the floor and handed them over.  
  
"Thank you..." he said, pulling his robes over his shoulder and then cuddling back under the blankets.  
  
~*~  
  
Draco didn't mention Voldemort again for at least a three weeks. It had surprised me how calmly he had reacted when I had finally told him everything. Although, perhaps it was this that had silenced his questions, the realization that it wasn't pleasant information to possess.  
  
May twenty-fifth was a very dull day and, mercifully, a Friday. Draco and I sat in front of the fire several hours after Ron and Hermione had retired to bed, not talking, just sitting.  
  
I had nearly nodded off in my chair when there was a slight pop coming from the fire place.  
  
"Draco Julian Malfoy," came a voice that sounded very much like it could break glass.  
  
"Mother!" Draco said, obviously surprised by the sound of his voice.  
  
My eyes napped open and I looked up, first at Draco, then at who I immediately recognized as Narcissa Malfoy.  
  
"What are you doing here? And with him?" she shouted, jerking her head in my direction to indicate that she was talking about me.  
  
"I'm sitting, Mother. What's it look like?" Draco said coolly. The slight arch in his neck and the way he was poised in the chair suggested that he knew exactly where this was going and wanted to avoid the entire thing.  
  
"That is Harry Potter, Draco. One of your friends sent me a letter which I received last night saying that a sort of relationship has developed between the two of you. It needs to stop now. You're spitting on the name Malfoy with what you're doing," she said shortly, glaring at me as though I were some sort of poisonous insect as she did.  
  
"Mother, first, who sent you the letter?" Draco said, looking positively murderous, although this detail seemed to go unnoticed by Mrs. Malfoy.  
  
"If you must know, it was Blaise Zabini. Well, what do you have to say for yourself? What would your father say?"  
  
I sat completely silent, just watching them argue for several minutes, replies volleying back and forth, each slightly more venomous than the previous one.  
  
"Why do you always do everything by what Father would want? Look where his scheming landed him! Twice!" Draco was now on his feet, shouting loudly.  
  
I had to speak at this. I had to quiet him before they woke people up. I stood and grasped his forearm loosely; just enough to get his attention.  
  
"Draco, will you stop shouting?" I whispered urgently, staring up at him as he was about four inches taller than I was.  
  
"Draco, if you don't leave Gryffindor Tower and go back to the Slytherin dormitories where you belong I will disown you as my son, and I shall write your Father to do the same. You disgrace me," she hissed from her place in the fire.  
  
Draco slowly looked from her to me and back again, the expression on his face showed an internal battle that was perfectly clear through his eyes.  
  
"Fine," he whispered slowly. He took my hand and pulled me, very forcefully, up the stairs to our bed.  
  
He fairly tore his clothes off, save for his boxers, and crawled into the bed. I followed, although much more slowly. My mind still hadn't quite registered that Draco had just chosen me over his own mother. This shocked me just as much as Draco's confessing his virginity had; Draco being a virgin was not exactly something I had expected.  
  
This incident, which was not brought up again. At all. Ever. Was completely forgotten within a few days.  
  
"So, Potter, you and Draco still together, are you?" Blaise said in the drawl that Draco used to use. I swear it's a thug requirement to speak as though you need the extra time to finish forming the sentence.  
  
"Yes, Zabini," I said absently. I just wanted to get as far away from him as possible before a fight broke out.  
  
He smirked and turned down the stairs to the Potions Dungeon.  
  
"Harry, don't worry about it. We graduate tomorrow, he'll be completely gone from our lives then," Draco said softly, kissing my cheek.  
  
None of the Seventh Years had made much of a big deal about graduation from Hogwarts. The entire class loved Hogwarts to the point that they almost wanted to stay here and repeat a year. In any case, not much had been said about it. Even the teachers had noticed the lack of interest towards it and stopped bringing it up in classes.  
  
~*~  
  
"You'll be taking your N.E.W.T exams this summer, as I'm sure you've been told. They should have been done over the course of the last three weeks, but due to a blunder within the Ministry, they will be over a two week boarding camp at the end of July. This was decided yesterday by the Department for Magical Education and Learning," Snape said, pure irritation in his voice that told us all that he had been enlisted to teach at this boarding camp.  
  
"As it is, you're all going to be making a very difficult potion today. Wolfsbane. Used to keep werewolves at bay. Much like the one that Professor Lupin uses," Snape continued slowly, eyeing Draco and I with dislike.  
  
Draco stared back, completely unabashed by the looks of loathing that he still wasn't accustomed to receiving.  
  
"The directions are on the board, I trust that you all can still read?" Snape finished before crossing back to his desk and sitting down, completely ignoring us all.  
  
Draco and I were copying down the directions when that ever-familiar drawl came from behind us.  
  
"Oh look who it is: the former favorite and the tragic hero. What a mismatched couple you two are," Blaise said, staring lazily at Draco and then at me.  
  
"What do you want Zabini?" Draco snapped and threw his quill quite violently down on the desktop.  
  
"Oh nothing, just wanted to come talk to you, Draco," Blaise said carefully, walking around to the front of the desk and coming to a stop just across from him.  
  
"What about? Make it fast. I'm a little busy," Draco said, glaring at Blaise.  
  
"Zabini, just go away. Some of us want to pass this class," I said lightly, picking Draco's quill up and continuing to copy down the instructions.  
  
"But I'm not finished yet," Blaise replied simply, looking at Draco with an odd expression on his face. Partway between a pure evil sneer and wanting to laugh.  
  
"Finished with what, exactly?" Draco said, looking at Blaise with a look of complete loathing.  
  
"I said I wanted to talk to you. I'm not finished yet," Blaise said, leaning down closer to him.  
  
"Go the fuck away, Blaise," Draco snapped.  
  
"Fuck away? No, fucking you is much more fun, Draco," Blaise said, winking at me in a very I-know-something-that-you-don't kind of way.  
  
I really didn't like how that sounded. Draco was a virgin. He'd told me he was... I stayed silent, not really knowing how to reply to this.  
  
"You didn't tell him, Draco? Well, I suppose not a lot of people do know. Just you and I and now, Harry," Blaise hissed in Draco's ear.  
  
"Shut the fuck up Blaise," Draco said, attempting to push him off but failing.  
  
"Draco, I can't believe you didn't tell him exactly how close we were," Blaise continued, completely ignoring Draco and running his finger down his cheek.  
  
"What in the hell am I missing here?" I said loudly, although the voice in the back of my head was telling me I knew what I now feared most.  
  
"Draco, you didn't tell him. I thought I knew you better than that. You should have told him. I'm sure you knew deep down that he'd find out somewhere anyway. I think it's time that Harry knows exactly how close we were," Blaise said, very blatantly kissing Draco's forehead.  
  
I suddenly felt a very possessive surge of anger. Blaise kissed Draco. That had ignited boiling rage in my stomach and I wanted nothing more than to rid Blaise of a few of his limbs.  
  
This was insane. Too much at once. Zabini had just... said that he had been with Draco? Complete madness. I was not hearing this. I couldn't be hearing this.  
  
"But Draco... said that he's a virgin," I said dumbly, my mind refusing to process this.  
  
"Draco? A virgin? Perhaps in a parallel universe of some sort, but here, he's quite the opposite," Blaise replied simply. He was unconcernedly checking his fingernails under the light.  
  
That did it. That sentence completely broke the dam blocking my mind from storing and processing this unpleasant revelation.  
  
"Draco?" was all I could make myself say. I just wanted the earth to open up and swallow me. Unless Zabini were lying. But, judging by the gleeful look on his face, he wasn't.  
  
"Harry, I – "Draco started, but I cut him off. I couldn't hear any more of this.  
  
"Draco, no. I'm going over there..." I said, putting a hand up to silence him and then gesturing to where Ron and Hermione were sitting.  
  
~*~  
  
This was pain worse than anything. Even the last time we had fought hadn't been quite this bad. That had been something rectifiable. This wasn't. This was completely beyond repair and I knew it.  
  
Ron and Hermione asked what was wrong during the remaining twenty minutes of Potions Class, but I couldn't say it. Saying it would make that much more real and I couldn't handle that yet. I saw Draco in the corridor leading the Astronomy Tower after dinner; he'd obviously had the same idea as me. He saw me as well, but I turned around and walked away without saying anything to him. I couldn't say anything to him. I hated Blaise for this. I always would hate Blaise for this.  
  
~*~  
  
I woke up the next morning, Saturday, in a complete haze. I felt like someone had hit me around the head with a blunt metal object.  
  
"Get up Harry. I know you don't want to, but we're graduating today," Ron said, unceremoniously ripping the hangings around me bed open. "Where's Malfoy?"  
  
"Fine... I don't know where he is," I snapped, starting to sit up.  
  
"Why – "He started, but I silenced him with an I-don't-want-to-talk-about- it look. 


End file.
